New Educator To Tar Creek Trust Named

Governor Brad Henry announced the appointment of Kim Pace to the Lead-Impacted Communities Relocation Assistance Trust. LICRAT is the entity charged with implementing a federally-funded buyout of residents of Picher and Cardin in the Tar Creek Superfund site.

Pace, the longtime principal of the Picher-Cardin elementary school, will replace the Reverend Charles Clevenger, who announced his resignation from the trust earlier this week.

"I greatly appreciate Reverend Clevenger's service and wish him well," said Governor Henry. "Kim Pace has experienced almost every aspect of the Tar Creek saga. She lived in Picher, taught school children there, and went through the relocation process herself.
Kim will bring a unique perspective to the trust and will be a great asset to this important effort."

The trust is currently in the process of implementing the second relocation initiative in the Tar Creek Superfund site. State and federal authorities are helping residents leave the old mining towns of Picher and Cardin to escape the dangers of lead contamination and subsidence attributed to decades-old mining operations in northeastern Oklahoma.