Mining for Conflict and Staking Claims: Contested Illness at the Tar Creek Superfund Site

Drawing from extensive fieldwork and document analysis, we examine environmental illness claims in Oklahoma's Tar Creek basin, one of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) premier Superfund sites. Our findings indicate that contested illness in the Tar Creek Superfund site differed from typical cases in that the links between high lead exposures and permanent neurological damage were thoroughly and unequivocally documented. But, despite the certainty of these linkages, residents remained embroiled in controversy and they encountered obstacles in obtaining diagnoses, treatment, and compensation. The resultant environmental dispute took two forms: conflict between residents and EPA officials over the adequacy of the agency's remediation project and conflict among residents over ultimate responsibility for children's lead exposures and consequent learning disabilities.