Decades of lead, zinc and iron ore mining have left the adjacent towns of Treece, Kansas and Picher, Oklahoma sitting in "a toxic waste dump of lead-tinged dust, contaminated soil and sinkholes." The remediation of the land has been determined to be so difficult by the EPA that the federal government has offered the residents of Picher a buy out to relocate. Across the road in Treece, a buy out has not been offered as the EPA "favors rehabilitation of the tainted soil." What is left is an area that most do not want to live in anymore.

They live in a gothic landscape of varying degrees of disrepair. A few residents walked away from well-kept properties just last week, while most others took buyouts years ago, leaving dozens of houses to collapse upon themselves. Stray dogs wander. Faded signs announce places that are no longer: the Picher Mining Museum, the Church of the Nazarene, a 24-hour truck stop.

EPA executives and federal officials toured Treece in August and Senators Pat Roberts (R-KS) and Sam Brownback (R-KS) are strongly pushing for a buyout of the residents.