The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has awarded nearly $5 million to the Quapaw Tribe of Oklahoma for continued cleanup efforts of the Tar Creek Superfund site.
The tribe will use the money to continue cleaning up contaminated soils on tribal lands.
The Tar Creek Superfund site is a 40-square-mile area in northeast Oklahoma that also included portions of Missouri and Kansas. It was once one of the world's most productive regions for lead and zinc. The EPA says more than $300 million has been committed to cleaning up mining-related pollution, including the 2009 federal buyout to the residents of Picher.
The EPA says about 600 acres of private and tribal land are ready for reuse as a result of the cleanup efforts so far.