WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Pat Roberts today urged Vice President Joe Biden to prevent wasteful and pointless spending of stimulus funds in Cherokee County, Kansas. The Vice President, tasked with preventing waste, fraud and abuse of stimulus funds for the Obama Administration, tomorrow will be in Overland Park, Kansas celebrating spending on the U.S.69 Highway interchange stimulus project.

"I invite the Vice President to head a little further down U.S.69 Highway to the Town of Treece to see an egregious example of wasteful spending of taxpayer dollars," Roberts said.

The following is the text of the letter Senator Roberts sent the Vice President today:

"Thank you for taking the leading role in coordinating the implementation of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (stimulus). In this regard, I understand you will be traveling to Kansas tomorrow to view a project receiving stimulus funds, the U.S. 69 Highway project in Overland Park.

"I write today to ask that your tour not end there. Unfortunately, there is a serious situation occurring 140 miles further south on U.S. 69 in Cherokee County, Kansas that is an absolute abuse of taxpayer money and needs your urgent attention.

"I recently learned that the Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) will use $760,000 of stimulus funding (our tax dollars at work) to resurface a road near Treece, Kansas. At the same time, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced it will use up to $25 million of stimulus funding to clean up environmental damage in the same location. Now here’s the rub: because heavy trucks will be used to clean up the environmental waste, it’s expected that EPA will need to spend additional stimulus tax dollars to repair what was the newly resurfaced road.

"Mr. Vice President, I am sure you can see the irony in this situation. Using stimulus funding to pave this road twice is clearly not in the best interest of American taxpayers, and it does not pass the Kansas common sense test.

"To further complicate this situation, the small community of Treece is built above abandoned mine shafts that are caving into the ground. Today, fewer than 100 men, women and children call this city home because they cannot afford to leave their homes, which have no market value.

"To make matters even more difficult, less than one mile from Treece sits Picher, Oklahoma. The only difference between these two communities is the state line. Until recently, they shared basic infrastructure and businesses. However, in the last few years, Picher received a federally-backed buyout to relocate its citizens to safer, more secure ground. Unfortunately, the buyout did not extend to the residents on the Kansas side of the state line.

"Because these communities are intertwined and suffer from the same mining contamination, the City of Treece has asked for similar federal assistance. Unfortunately, the EPA believes Treece "materially differs" from that of Picher and refuses to assist in relocating these Kansans to a place where their overall heath and livelihood can improve. Since most of the citizens of Picher have accepted the federal buy-out and relocated, the residents of Treece have become even more isolated.

"On Thursday, I encourage you to extend your trip to include a visit to Treece to see first hand the need to relocate its residents. Furthermore, I urge you to review the wasteful use of stimulus tax dollars to pave the road twice.

"I hope you can provide leadership and assistance to use stimulus funding to assist in relocating the residents of Treece rather than throwing money down an empty sink hole or using it for the same project twice."

Senator Roberts, Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS) and Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins (R-KS) urged the Environmental Protection Agency to use a portion of the $10-25 million allocated for top soil contamination in Cherokee County to address the more critical problem of subsidence that endangers residents of Treece, Kansas on a daily basis.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) has determined the cost of a business and residential property buyout and relocation would be $3.5 million. KDHE would administer the relocation and the State of Kansas will contribute $500,000.