EPA had paid the contractors for years, but last October that responsibility was given to the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality. The question of who answers for "past work" became pivotal with this change for resolution.

Pleased people don't tell many but people with complaints do.A word pair that was new to me, "past work" was a phrase I heard when reporting concerns local home owners had on the yard remediation conducted on their property or near it. The concerns were really complaints with suggestions for change, which is another way to say "fix it" and this is how.

EPA has been doing yard remediation in Ottawa County since 1995. They have sampled lots of yards and many of them have tested high enough in lead to have had to be dug up and replaced. There have been times contractors really messed up but there are more times where the property owners were satisfied even pleased with the results. EPA had paid the contractors for years, but last October that responsibility was given to the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality. The question of who answers for "past work" became pivotal with this change for resolution.

Pleased people don't tell many but people with complaints do.

     A creek, a river, a water body all can be assets for a community to embrace. People have settled near water throughout history. Water is our life and with it we are sustained and often inspired. Miami is blessed by both a river and a creek. It is no wonder why the town would have been built on this spot.  A river town with a creek is twice blessed.
     Listen to the 6 o'clock news and you will hear Tulsa all over its self working on ways to enhance their asset, the Arkansas River into the growth plans for their city with the "river runs through it campaign" as the new place to "gather."
     The creek running through Commerce and Miami has been an asset, enough so one of the richest men in Oklahoma built his home on its banks with the money he made in mining. For the last 36 years legacy mining waters