| Q £	Remedial Action Activities

^5S|K f Tar Creek Operable Unit 4 Superfund Site



Ottawa County, Oklahoma	April 2010

The purpose of this fact sheet...

You're Invited to Marketing Seminars and Avail-
ability Sessions
OU4 Remedial Action Update

•	May 2010 Marketing Seminars Planned
May Availability Sessions

•	Reminders

Frequently Asked Questions
How to find out more about the Site

The remedial action for Operable Unit 4 is well un-
derway. The removal of mine and mill waste in distal
areas, where access has been granted, started in Janu-
ary 2010. Removing and reducing the footprints of
this waste will enable property owners to increase the
use of their land. Also, working in the distal areas al-
lows chat sales within the core area to continue and
contribute to the reduction of the footprint of chat.
During this timeframe, over 284 local hires have been
a part of this effort and over 173,602 tons of mine
waste has been removed from the distal areas.

Chat in distal areas is being sampled to determine if it
is marketable. The sampling results are provided to
the chat owners and the data information (without
names of the chat owners) is posted on a website for
prospective buyers or processors to determine if they
are interested in purchasing the chat. To view the data
results, please visit:

http .//projects. ch2m com/TCOU4chat/

May 2010 Marketing Seminars Planned

EPA, in coordination with the Bureau of Indian Af-
fairs and the Quapaw Tribe of Oklahoma, plan to
conduct two Chat Marketing Seminars in May. The
first seminar will be conducted for Indian chat owners
and landowners on Tuesday - May 4th. On the sec-
ond day (May 5, 2010), the seminar will be held for
chat owners, prospective buyers, the Oklahoma, Kan-
sas, and Missouri Departments of Transportation, and
anyone interested in attending. Both Marketing
Seminars will be held at 101 N. Connell (former
Picher City Hall) in Picher, Oklahoma from 1:00
pm — 4:00 pm.

May Availability Sessions

On Tuesday (May 4, 2010), EPA will be available to
meet one-on-one with Indian chat owners and land-
owners who may have questions or desire to obtain
additional information or clarification on the steps
associated with chat sales. The May 4 Availability
Session will be held at 101 N. Connell (former Pich-
er City Hall) in Picher, Oklahoma from 4:00 pm
6:1111 pm

EPA will also be available on May 5, 2010 (Wednes-
day) to meet one-on-one with interested persons de-
siring to obtain additional information or clarification
on the OU4 remedial action activities. The Availabil-
ity Session will be open to all interested parties and
held at the Hampton Inn Hotel's conference room,
located in Miami, Oklahoma, from 5:30 — 7:00pm





You 're invited to attend Marketing Seminars
and Availability Sessions EPA, the Bureau of
Indian Affairs and the Quapaw Tribe of Okla-
homa are scheduling for May 2010. See below
for additional information.

OU4 Remedial Action Update


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Reminders

Sampling Efforts

For EPA to clean up the source materials, access
agreements must be received from the owners of
property that have source materials. There are two
types of access agreements for unrestricted property,
"Consent for Entry and Access to Property " and a
"Settlement Agreement and Release. "

The "Consent for Entry and Access to Property "
gives EPA permission to enter properties and to eva-
luate the amount and condition of chat deposits, other
mine and mill waste, and surface soil through sam-
pling. If needed, EPA can also install a temporary
haul road to perform the remediation (to be removed
afterwards), and remove the chat, mine and mill
waste, and contaminated soil for further disposition.

The "Settlement Agreement and Release " gives EPA
permission to remove and dispose of the chat. The
actions that EPA performs to excavate, transport, and
dispose of the chat are considered adequate compen-
sation for any value the chat may have.

For restricted properties, the "Consent for Entry and
Access to Property to Sample " gives EPA permission
to enter restricted properties and to evaluate the
amount and condition of restricted chat deposits, oth-
er mine and mill waste, and surface soil through sam-
pling. EPA will working with the Department of the
Interior and its agencies on plans to help facilitate
chat sales. This action includes, but is not limited to,
finding locations to stage the chat for future sales
(with appropriate tracking and security measures),
and facilitating chat sales. Without these signed doc-
uments, the implementation of the remedial action
will be delayed.

Legal Considerations

If waste material is used in a way that creates a threat
to human health or the environment, the owner of the
property and the party responsible for creating the
hazardous situation could be liable for a cleanup un-
der the Comprehensive Environmental Response,
Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) law, be-
cause these mine wastes often contain lead, cadmium,
zinc or other metal contaminants at levels that could
cause harm to both human health and the environ-
ment. Using the waste in situations that would allow

people, animals, plants, or fish, etc. to come into con-
tact with the material could cause harm and may need
clean up action under CERCLA. To avoid potential
CERCLA liability, EPA generally recommends that
property owners, haulers, operators, and individuals
or businesses that sell, buy, or use mine waste materi-
als which contain hazardous materials, use the mate-
rials in a manner that prevents exposure to humans
and other receptors that would not cause harm to the
environment

Frequently Asked Questions

The access agreements, as written, do not include a
specific expiration date. Can a specific expiration
date be applied to the access agreement?

Yes. The property owner can make a line through
the text that states "this agreement expires 30 days
after EPA completes its work on the property"
and insert a date acceptable to the property owner.
EPA prefers the date be at least two years from
now. Any changes made to the access agreements
should be initialed by the property owner.

Can the property owner allow only those activities
leading up to, but not including, the excavation and
removal of the chat?

If desired by the property owner, the remediation
activities listed on the Consent for Entry access
agreement may be lined through, leaving only
those items necessary for evaluation and planning
of activities for the property. EPA will perform
any up-front work permitted by the Consent for
Entry as signed, and contact the property owner
for access to remove chat following the comple-
tion of that work.

What criteria will EPA apply to determine whether a
chat pile is marketable?

Marketable material is generally defined as the
fraction that exists between 9/i6 inch to ]A inch
(coarse marketable product) and the fraction that
exists between Vi inch to No. 100 sieve (drag
sands marketable product). The fractions of mar-
ketable materials are likely to change as material
becomes scarce over time. To evaluate market-
ability, EPA will collect sieve data for use by chat
sellers and buyers in coming to terms.


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What if the property owner and chat buyer can not
come to terms on a price?

If a prospective chat buyer and the owner can not
come to terms, EPA will provide guidance to chat
sales participants on locating a different chat buy-
er.

For More Information

If you would like more information about the Tar
Creek Site, contact:

Ursula Lennox, Remedial Project Manager OU4

U.S. EPA Region 6

214.665.6743 or 1.800.533.3508 (toll-free)
lennox.ursula@epa.gov

Gary Baumgarten, Remedial Project Manager
OU5

U.S. EPA Region 6

214.665.6749 or 1.800.533.3508 (toll free)

Robert Sullivan, Remedial Project Manager OU1
and OU2

U.S. EPA Region 6

214.665.2223 or 1.800.533.3508 (toll free)

Janetta Coats, Community Involvement
Coordinator

U.S. EPA Region 6

214.665.7308 or 1.800.533.3508 (toll-free)
coats .j anetta@epa.gov

Donn Walters, Regional Public Liaison

U.S. EPA Region 6

214.665.6483 or 1.800.533.3508 (toll-free)
waiters. donn@epa. gov

Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality

Dennis Datin, P.E. 405.702.5125
David Cates, P.E. 405.702.5124

Quapaw Tribe of Oklahoma

Tim Kent, Director 918.542.1853

Information Repositories

The Administrative Record, including the Record of
Decision, for the Tar Creek Superfund Site is avail-
able at the following locations:

Miami Public Library

200 North Main St.

Miami, OK 74354
918.542.3064

Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality

707 North Robinson
Oklahoma, City, OK 73102
405.702.6145

All inquiries from the news media should be directed
to the Region 6 Press Office at 214.665.2200.

The completed Record of Decision for the Tar Creek
Superfund Site, OU4 is available on the Internet at:
www.epa.gov/region6/superfund

Information about the Tar Creek Site also can be
found at U.S. EPA Region 6 Superfund
http://www. epa.gov/region6/6sf/6sf. htm

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v> EPA

United States
Environmental Protection
Agency

Region 6

1445 Ross Ave. (6SF-VO)
Dallas, TX 75202

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