Environmental Contaminants

The mission of the Oklahoma Ecological Service Contaminants program is to conserve, protect, and enhance fish, wildlife and their habitats by identifying, preventing, and restoring the effects of contaminants through collaboration with other Federal, Tribal, State, and local agencies as well as our partners in the academia, industry and the public.

Spill Preparedness and Response



Environmental Contaminants biologists are trained to respond to oil spills, and other hazardous material spills, throughout Oklahoma. We work with tribes and state and federal agencies to keep oil away from areas where migratory birds, endangered species and other wildlife are located. Before a spill event happens, we prepare for spill responses by planning clean-up efforts with response agencies, oil companies, and local committees and to identify sensitive environments and discuss strategies for protecting and treating them during a spill.

Restoration



Environmental Contaminants biologists, through the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration (NRDAR) program, play a major role in restoring habitats and natural resources injured by the release oil spills or hazardous substances. We work with tribal, state and other federal natural resource agencies to plan and implement restoration activities to compensate for injury to fish, wildlife and their habitats from the releases. For more information at the national level, please visit the Department of Interior's NRDAR site:  https://www.doi.gov/restoration

Reporting Oil and Chemical Spills



The National Response Center (NRC) is the sole federal point of contact for reporting oil and chemical spills. If you have a spill to report, please call the NRC at (800) 424-8802 or visit their site: https://nrc.uscg.mil/

At the state level, to report environmental contaminants problems in Oklahoma, such as NPDES permit exceedances or Clean Water Act violations, contact the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality at (800) 522-0206 or visit their web site:  https://www.deq.ok.gov/divisions/ecls/ For fish die-off complaints on public waters (e.g. streams and rivers), contact the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation at (405) 424-6062 or (405) 990-7029, or visit their web site:  https://www.wildlifedepartment.com/fishing/environmental.htm

Please also visit the Oklahoma Corporate Commission's Feedback or Complaints page regarding oil, gasoline, pipeline, and other contaminants issues:  https://oklahoma.gov/occ/complaints.html

More Information



For more information regarding oil spills, please visit the FWS's national oil spill site: need updated ink here

For a copy of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's laws and regulations regarding oil spills:  https://www.epa.gov/oil-spills-prevention-and-preparedness-regulations

NRDAR Documents

  • Tar Creek
    • Pre-Assessment
      • Screening Level Migratory Bird Assessment for the Tri-State Mining District (PDF, 60KB)
      • Pre-Assessment Screen for the Tar Creek Superfund Site (PDF, 812KB)
    • Assessment
      • Final Assessment Plan for Tar Creek, Ottawa County, Oklahoma (PDF, 1.4MB)
    • Sampling Plans
      • SAP Evaluating injury to mussels by metals in the TSMD (PDF, 1.3MB)
      • SAP for the 2008 Sediment Quality Evaluation of Grand Lake (PDF, 600KB)
      • SAP for Assessing Volume of Metals in Stream and Floodplain Sediments within the Tri-State Mining District (PDF, 2.1MB)
      • SAP for the 2009 Tri-State Transition Zone Assessment Study (PDF, 195KB)
      • SAP for Concentrations of Heavy Metals by Six Treaty Tribes 2009/2010 (PDF, 2.1MB)
    • Final Reports
      • Tribal Interview Study - Final Report (PDF, 4MB)
      • Occurrence, Distribution, and Volume of Metals-Contaminated Sediment of Selected Streams Draining the Tri-State Mining District, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Kansas, 2011–12 (PDF, 8MB)
      • Advanced SLERA for TSMD 2010 (PDF, 26MB)
      • Assessment of Heavy Metals in Sediments of the Tar Creek Superfund Site (PDF, 4MB)
      • Assessment of Tribal Plants at Tar Creek (PDF, 900KB)
      • Final RCDP for Grand Lake (PDF, 5.3MB)
      • Tri State Transition Zone Assessment Study (PDF, 2.5MB)
      • Effects of mining-derived metals on riffle-dwelling crayfish in southwestern Missouri and southeastern Kansas of the Tri-State Mining District, USA (PDF, 1.8MB)
      • TSMD Crayfish Report, Appendix A (PDF, 100KB)
      • Adverse health effects in Canada geese from zinc and lead TSMD (PDF, 650KB)
      • Grand Lake Sediment Toxicity Report (Ingersoll et al.; PDF, 1.6MB)
      • Occurrence and Trends in Bottom Sediments in Grand Lake (PDF, 1.8MB)
      • Development and Evaluation of Sediment and Pore-Water Toxicity Thresholds to Support Sediment Quality Assessments in the Tri-State Mining District (TSMD), Missouri, Oklahoma, and Kansas, Vol. I (PDF, 1.8MB) and Vol. II (PDF, 2MB)
      • Ozark Cavefish Distribution Related to Mining and Water Quality in the Tri-State Mining District of Jasper and Newton Counties, Missouri (PDF, 2.8MB)
      • Neosho Madtom Habitat Assessment (PDF, 1MB)
    • Restoration
      • Draft Tar Creek Phase1 RPEA (PDF, 4.9MB)
      • Tar Creek Trustees Invite Public to Submit Restoration Project Ideas (PDF, 1.2MB)
      • Natural Resource Programmatic Restoration Plan and Environmental Assessment (PDF, 1.3MB)
      • Partial Restoration Plan for the Tar Creek Superfund Site (PDF, 1.4MB)
  • Other NRDAR
    • Final Addendum to the Partial RP/EA for Tar Creek Superfund Site and Farmland Industries Oil Spill (PDF, 416KB)
    • Creta Copper Restoration Plan and Environmental Assessment (PDF, 675KB)
    • Amended Preassessment Screen: National Zinc Corporation Site (PDF, 855KB)
    • Double Eagle Restoration Plan And Environmental Assessment (PDF, 866KB)
    • Farmland Restoration Plan and Environmental Assessment (FINAL: PDF, 227KB)
    • Okmulgee Restoration Plan and Environmental Assessment (FINAL: PDF, 260KB)