The Tulsa County Smelter Complex (TCSC) Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration (NRDAR) Site combines the Tulsa Fuels and Manufacturing (TFM) Facility with the Collinsville Smelter Facility (hereinafter known as the “Facilities”) in Tulsa County, Oklahoma. The NRDAR Trustees have determined that the injuries and damages from the Facilities will be evaluated as one Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration site because the Facilities: 1) are across the highway from each other, 2) smelted ore from the same source, and 3) have overlapping and inseparable injury to trust resources that extend beyond the facility perimeters.
The TFM Facility is a 60-acre former zinc smelter and lead roaster and is located approximately 1.3 miles from the downtown area of Collinsville, Tulsa County, Oklahoma. It was operated from 1914-1925 by New Jersey Zinc Company. The TFM Facility was placed on the National Priorities List in 1999. TCI Pacific Communications Inc. is the successor in-interest to New Jersey Zinc Company. The Collinsville Smelter Facility is located approximately one mile south of Collinsville, Tulsa County, Oklahoma and across Old Highway 169 to the east-northeast of the TFM Facility. The Collinsville Smelter Facility was operated as a zinc smelter between 1911 and 1918 by the Bartlesville Zinc Company. Cyprus Amax Mineral Company (Cyprus) is the successor of the now dissolved Bartlesville Zinc Company. Cyprus is participating with the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality (ODEQ) in a Voluntary Clean up.
The clean-up at the Facilities generally included capping and removal of contaminated material and impacted soil. Onsite smelter waste was exposed for over 70 years with no protective cover material or any method to reduce runoff from the Facilities to the TCSC Site before remediation. In addition, Cyprus and ODEQ addressed cleanup in the City of Collinsville due to historic smelter emissions and the transport of smelter material off-site. Due to the time period in which the smelters operated, it is unlikely any air emission control devices were used and metal contamination occurred due to aerial deposition of stack emissions. The lack of control measures has likely resulted in contaminant migration via surface runoff, fugitive dusts, and infiltration to offsite areas from the beginning of smelting operations until the present time.