Superfund Sites in Reuse in Oklahoma

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EAGLE-PICHER HENRYETTA

The 70-acre Eagle-Picher Henryetta site is in Henryetta, Oklahoma. From 1916 to 1968, the Eagle-Picher Mining and Smelting company ran a smelter that produced zinc, cadmium, and germanium on site. Its operations left large piles of waste contaminated with heavy metals. The company donated the smelter property to the city of Henryetta (the City) in 1974. Unaware of the contamination in the waste piles, the city used soil from the site as fill material across the community, including in neighborhoods, schools and parks. Downwind residential properties were also affected by air dispersion of heavy metals from stack emissions and windblown dust from the smelter facility. Investigations in the mid-1990s found lead and arsenic contamination at the site and across Henryetta. Working in partnership with the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality (ODEQ), EPA’s cleanup focused on removing contaminated soils and wastes and addressing residential areas affected by the site. Contaminated materials were consolidated on site. The remedy also included the placement of a clay cap, cover soil and vegetation over contaminated material to protect public health. After cleanup, the City opened Shurden-Leist Industrial Park at the site. The first tenant, a motorcycle manufacturing company, opened in 2006. In 2007, in recognition of the project’s success, the project received the Phoenix Award for EPA’s South-Central Region. In 2015, EPA and ODEQ worked with the city on a Ready for Reuse (RfR) Determination to support local interest in a rural health care center at the site. It helped make possible a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for the health center’s construction. In 2018, the East Central Oklahoma Family Health Center (ECOFHC) opened on site. The center provides health, dental health and behavioral health care services. During the opening ceremony, EPA Region 6 presented its Excellence in Site Reuse Award to ECOFHC and the City. The Henryetta R/C Aviators club is also on site. It uses part of the site for radio-controlled aerobatics and racing shows. 
Last updated October 2025

As of December 2024, EPA had data on one on-site business. This business employed 13 people and generated an estimated $1,325,000 in annual sales revenue. For additional information click here.

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FOURTH STREET ABANDONED REFINERY

The 27-acre Fourth Street Abandoned Refinery Superfund site is in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. A waste oil reclamation facility was on site from the 1940s to the early 1960s. Facility operations and waste disposal practices contaminated soil and groundwater. EPA added the site to the National Priorities List (NPL) in 1989. Cleanup actions addressed contaminated sludge, soil, and sediments. EPA took the site off the NPL in 2008. Current site uses include a steel distributor, a construction company, and an equipment storage company. 
Last updated October 2025

As of December 2024, EPA had data on 2 on-site businesses. These businesses employed 53 people and generated an estimated $10,693,600 in annual sales revenue. For additional information click here.

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MOSLEY ROAD SANITARY LANDFILL

The 72-acre Mosley Road Sanitary Landfill Superfund site is near Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. A landfill for municipal, industrial and hazardous waste materials has been on-site since 1971. Over a six-month period, workers placed about 1.7 million gallons of hazardous waste materials from another site into unlined pits at the landfill. In 1984, Waste Management of Oklahoma purchased the site's property. After it reached capacity, WMO closed the landfill in 1987. Landfill operations resulted in groundwater contamination. EPA added the site to the National Priorities List in 1990. WMO completed cleanup activities shortly afterwards. They included repairing the landfill cap, adding a soil cover and putting in a landfill gas management system. WMO also monitors groundwater. Working closely with EPA and Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality, WMO built the first commercial facility for a renewable biogas and natural gas joint venture project. WMO built and ran a demonstration project at the neighboring East Oak Landfill in 2010. The technology turns methane gas into clean-burning diesel fuel and wax. After cleanup, EPA took the site off the NPL in 2013. In early 2016, prospective developers signed final contracts for the first full-scale commercial gas-to-liquid facility on site. Construction paused in 2018 to fine-tune the demonstration project. WMO is developing alternative uses for the site. 
Last updated October 2025

As of December 2024, EPA did not have economic data related to on-site businesses, or economic data were not applicable due to site use. For additional information click here. For additional information click here.

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NATIONAL ZINC CORP.

The National Zinc Corp. site is in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. National Zinc Corporation ran a zinc smelter on-site from 1907 to 1976. Operations used smelting and chemical processes to recover metals such as zinc, cadmium and lead from industrial materials. The smelter had no air emission controls, allowing the deposit of emissions across areas downwind in Bartlesville. In 1991 and 1992, health studies found high levels of lead in the blood of children living in the area. EPA proposed the site for listing on the National Priorities List and later designated it as a Superfund Accelerated Cleanup Model pilot project in 1993. Cleanup activities included replacement of soil on residential properties and capping, replacement, tilling and phosphate treatment at commercial properties. It also included removal and off-site disposal of contaminated sediment from impacted streams and tributaries. Clean fill replaced the excavated material. The site’s potentially responsible parties led cleanup activities, with Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality oversight. The cleanup addressed about 1,000 residential properties contaminated with heavy metals. Cleaning up soil in these areas significantly lowered overall blood lead levels in the community. Today, continued uses at the site include residential, commercial and industrial areas. Uses also include churches, a ranch, non-profit organizations and recreational uses, including a sports center and a dog park, as well as a river, several creeks, lakes and ponds. 
Last updated October 2025

As of December 2024, EPA did not have economic data related to on-site businesses, or economic data were not applicable due to site use. For additional information click here.

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SAND SPRINGS PETROCHEMICAL COMPLEX

The Sand Springs Petrochemical Superfund site is in Sand Springs, Oklahoma. The 235-acre area is part of an industrial complex on the northern bank of the Arkansas River. Starting in the early 1900s, with Pierce Petroleum Refinery, and later Sinclair Oil, various industries operated on-site until 1948, followed by multiple industrial activities that contaminated soil and groundwater. EPA began investigations in the area in 1980, with the site divided into two Operable Units addressing the contaminated soil and groundwater. In 1984, EPA ordered the emergency removal of contained drums and tanks from a 5.5-acre part of the site. EPA added the site to the National Priorities List in 1986. In 1995, potentially responsible parties dug up and stabilized petroleum waste material and put it in a RCRA Title C landfill on site, north of an 18-20 foot levee. EPA took the site off the NPL in 2000. From 2004 to 2006, the PRPs dug up and removed sludge material along the banks of the Arkansas River. Operation and maintenance activities are ongoing. About 5 acres of the site is in reuse as a rail facility. It includes an area for shipment transfer, storage and loading. On the northern part of the site, an old lumberyard was purchased and redeveloped for commercial uses, including a vehicle repair facility. Several other commercial and industrial businesses also remain active on-site. 
Last updated October 2025

As of December 2024, EPA had data on 17 on-site businesses. These businesses employed 224 people and generated an estimated $186,222,781 in annual sales revenue. For additional information click here.

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TAR CREEK (OTTAWA COUNTY)

Tar Creek (Ottawa County)
Tar Creek (Ottawa County)

The Tar Creek (Ottawa County) Superfund site is in northeast Oklahoma. It consists of areas impacted by historical mining operations and is part of the Tri-State Mining District, which spans parts of Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri. Mining for lead, cadmium and zinc began in the late 1800s, mostly to support America’s war efforts in World War I and World War II and continued until the late 1970s. The site has no clearly defined boundaries but covers about 40 square miles in northern Ottawa County where lead and zinc mining operations were conducted and any area where hazardous substances from mining or milling have been stored or disposed. EPA added the site to the National Priorities List (NPL) in 1983. To date, cleanup activities have included the excavation of lead-contaminated soil from nearly 3,000 residential yards and high-access areas, the remediation of over 8 million tons of mining waste and contaminated soil, plugging of abandoned wells, surface water management through constructed wetlands, and residential relocation. From 2009 to 2012, the Lead Impacted Communities Relocation Assistance Trust, working with the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality (ODEQ), conducted residential buyouts, demolitions and relocations for the mining towns of Picher, Cardin and Hockerville. EPA also worked with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment to establish the Treece Relocation Assistance trust to buy out homes in Treece, Kansas. In 2010, EPA partnered with the LEAD Agency, Northeast Technology Center at Afton, and CH2M Hill to create the Tar Creek Superfund Job Training Initiative, equipping 26 local jobseekers with skills and experience for the site’s cleanup. In 2012, the Quapaw Nation became the first Native American tribe to lead a Superfund site cleanup, using EPA funding to remediate the culturally significant Catholic 40 property. EPA has since awarded the tribe multiple agreements for cleanup on restricted tribal lands, while ODEQ oversees mine waste remediation on unrestricted areas. EPA is also investigating contaminated surface water and sediment in affected watersheds. In 2019, EPA Region 6, alongside Oklahoma, the Quapaw Nation, and partners, released the Tar Creek Superfund Site Strategic Plan. It provides a cleanup update and outlines how EPA, ODEQ, the Quapaw Nation and the Tar Creek community will make further progress addressing mining waste and contamination at the site. EPA, Quapaw Nation, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs within the Department of the Interior partnered to enact conservation easements, which serve as long term institutional controls, on some site tribal properties to enable long-term protection and limitations on land use in these areas. Future actions include continuing cleanup progress, reevaluating land use assumptions, exploring innovative technologies, and identifying more reuse opportunities. As of 2023, nearly 5,000 acres of the site have been remediated and are available for future use. The Quapaw Nation’s cleanup efforts have set the stage for several redevelopment projects that reflect the tribe’s reuse priorities, including cultural preservation, agricultural use and the expansion of the tribe’s traditional economic focus on ranching. Ongoing cleanup activities enable agricultural, public service, commercial, industrial and residential uses to continue across the site. A large part of the site is used for crop production and as pastureland for cattle. The city of Miami partnered with ODEQ and EPA on the cleanup of a former Eagle Picher office complex in Miami, Oklahoma. It originally served as the local headquarters for the Eagle Picher Mining Company. For many years, the office complex sat abandoned with several environmental challenges, including the presence of mining waste on the property. In 2020, The city acquired the on-site Eagle Picher office complex property, coordinated cleanup efforts with ODEQ and EPA, and converted the site into a splash pad and city park. In mid-2023, EPA and the Quapaw Nation partnered to begin development of a second Tar Creek Solar reuse assessment which includes a broader evaluation of the Quapaw Nation energy needs and potential partnerships across tribal business initiatives to achieve higher levels of energy sovereignty for the Quapaw Nation. 
Last updated October 2025

As of December 2024, EPA had data on 90 on-site businesses. These businesses employed 1,233 people and generated an estimated $195,292,003 in annual sales revenue. For additional information click here.

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TULSA FUEL AND MANUFACTURING

The 61-acre Tulsa Fuel and Manufacturing Superfund site is in Collinsville in Tulsa County, Oklahoma. A zinc smelter was on-site from 1914 to 1925. Historical smelting operations contaminated soil, sediment and surface water. EPA added the site to the National Priorities List (NPL) in 1999. Cleanup activities included on-site consolidation and capping of soil, sediment and waste material, and implementation of institutional controls. Operation and maintenance activities are ongoing. Cleanup resulted in the transformation of this once-contaminated smelter property into restored ecological habitat, supporting the protection of bees and production of high-quality honey. A honeybee swarm rescue and removal service and honeybee farm are on-site. In 2019, EPA Region 6 presented site stakeholders with its Greenovations Award. The award recognized their efforts to achieve sustainable and ecological revitalization with the construction of ecological enhancements on the cap. EPA deleted the site from the NPL in 2020. 
Last updated October 2025

As of December 2024, EPA had data on one on-site business. EPA did not have further economic details related to this business. For additional information click here.

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WILCOX OIL COMPANY

The Wilcox Oil Company Superfund site is in Creek County, Oklahoma. It covers approximately 150 acres. From 1915 to 1963, a crude oil refinery was on site. Its operations contaminated soil and left behind waste material. EPA added the site to the National Priorities List in 2013. EPA’s Superfund Redevelopment Program provided support for a regional support project at the site in 2017 and 2018 to inform EPA’s activities and the community’s redevelopment planning efforts. Investigations and cleanup planning at the site are ongoing. Current site uses include a church, residential areas and agricultural properties. 
Last updated October 2025

As of December 2024, EPA did not have economic data related to on-site businesses, or economic data were not applicable due to site use. For additional information click here.

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Last updated on October 31, 2025