Tar Creek, Oklahoma

The northeastern corner of Oklahoma, near the town of Picher, was once the largest lead and zinc mining district in the nation – it has been said that half the bullets fired by Americans in World War I were made of lead from here. The mines, shut down in the 1960s, undermine the district, leading to surface collapse, and dusty piles of tailings contaminated with lead cover many square miles. These unsafe conditions, and proven health problems with residents in the area, including a high concentration of children with cognitive disabilities as the result of lead poisoning, eventually led to the evacuation of several towns. The federal government declared the region, the Tar Creek drainage area, a Superfund site in 1983. The EPA started buying out residents in 2006. Homes and businesses were moved and torn down over the following years, a process which still continues. Some refuse to leave.