To the editor:

I read the July 26 article on page 10B concerning the Tar Creek Superfund Site declared by the EPA that left the Kansas side of this area without a buyout option. What was missing in the article was the fact that the land in question in Kansas was part of the Quapaw Indian Reservation until 1867. Current Quapaw lands are affected by this pollution on the Oklahoma side of the border.

There is a local connection to this pollution issue. The Quapaw Tribe used its mining earnings from this area to help erect the Haskell Memorial Arch and the stadium in the 1920s. Other tribes also contributed smaller amounts with the Quapaw Tribe to build the stadium. Initially, the Quapaw people were undercompensated for their mineral earnings until the federal government stepped in.

However, this situation in history speaks to other issues. Namely, the shortsightedness of colonial powers to exploit natural resources for short-term gains with long-term consequences. The mining in that Tar Creek area slowed in the 1960s. What currently worries me is the shortsighted desire to exploit both the Alaska National Wildlife Arctic Refuge and the Haskell Wetlands.

Who will pay for the attempts of shortsighted greed? The coming generations will.

Mike Ford,

Bonner Springs