The Town of Silent Poison (Documentary) - How Picher, OK Became the Most Toxic Town in America

The now defunct town of Picher, Oklahoma was once considered the most toxic place in the United States. Decades of lead and zinc mining scarred the landscape, with scattered 200-foot-tall mountains of waste sitting on top of severely undermined land and highly acidic water flowing through and out.

The decline of mining activities and subsequent abandonment of mine shafts and waste resulted in widespread toxic metal and sulfuric acid contamination over decades - an active contamination that continues to this day. At the time of its placement on the EPA’s National Priority List and its designation as a superfund site in 1983, it was considered the worst active environmental disaster in the United States. Despite this distinction, the EPA dragged their feet on cleanup for decades, turning a blind eye wherever convenient, all while barring the Quapaw landowners from participating and contributing to cleanup efforts.

The massive piles of mining waste, otherwise known mine tailings, or “chat,” contain dangerous concentrations of lead, zinc, and cadmium. And the effects of these toxic metals would become tragically apparent due to a growing number of health problems in children living in and around the waste.

This documentary tells the story of how a small town in northeast Oklahoma became the most toxic town in America, what effects that toxicity has had on residents, the decades of ongoing and fragmented cleanup efforts, and what the future holds for the Tar Creek Superfund site.

▬▬CONTENTS▬▬
0:00 - The Intro
2:55 - The Quapaws
5:57 - The Boom
8:23 - The Town
10:09 - The Bust
12:05 - The Contamination
15:13 - The EPA
18:12 - The Silent Poison
22:19 - The Buyouts
27:26 - The Danger
31:11 - The Disaster
33:31 - The Hope
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Camera: Will Reich

Drone Footage:
Caleb Owens: https://www.youtube.com/@calebowens8955
Drone Dude: https://www.youtube.com/@DroneDude808
Summer King: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5FQmtByFMY

Photos:
Picher, Oklahoma: Catastrophe, Memory, and Trauma - Todd Stewart, Alison Fields
Lee McGrath - Parc Mine: https://www.leemcgrathphotography.co.uk/parc
Quapaw Tribal Museum

▬▬FURTHER WATCHING/READING▬▬
(Keep Curious Co. may earn a commission from purchases made through links below. All commissions directly fund the creation of future videos like this one.)

Tar Creek: A History of the Quapaw Indians, the World's Largest Lead and Zinc Discovery, and The Tar Creek Superfund Site. - https://amzn.to/3JaZhsd

Tar Creek (Documentary) - https://amzn.to/43MqhGA

The Creek Runs Red (Documentary) - https://vimeo.com/ondemand/thecreekrunsred

Picher, Oklahoma: Catastrophe, Memory, and Trauma - https://amzn.to/3JaEWTY

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