Report: Schools, homes in danger of collapse

Tuesday, January 31st 2006, 11:41 am

By: News On 6

TULSA, Okla. (AP) -- A new federal report shows more than 200 locations, including homes and schools, in the Tar Creek Superfund Site in northeast Oklahoma are in danger of collapsing.

US Senator Jim Inhofe says the Army Corps of Engineers report says an elementary school could fall in and children could be killed.

A former opponent to a buyout relocation plan, Inhofe says he now believes some residents will have to be relocated.

The report on the 18-month Corps of Engineers study was publicly released last night at a town hall meeting in Picher.

The 42-square-mile area of Picher, Cardin, Quapaw, Commerce and North Miami was a leader in lead and zinc production throughout much of the 20th century.

The report says about 34 percent of Picher and 29 percent of Cardin are undermined by caverns with varying degrees of cave-in potential.