Treece is a ghost town in Cherokee County, Kansas, United States,[1] and part of the historic Tri-State Mining District.

[3] As of May 2012 the city was abandoned and most buildings and other facilities demolished due to pervasive problems with lead pollution resulting from past mining.

[5] Treece and neighboring former cities Picher, Cardin and Douthat were formed as a result of mining operations in the early 20th century.

[9] In 1981 the Environmental Protection Agency deemed the Tri-State Mining District as contaminated and promised to take actions to clean up the area.

[13] As of September 2009, it was reported that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency wanted to clean up the soil in Treece, instead of moving its residents away.

[14] Congress, however, passed an environmental appropriations bill on October 29, 2009, that authorized the EPA to buy out the town.

[2] Treece, Kansas was deemed as uninhabitable and contaminated by the Environmental Protection Agency because of the large chat piles and leftover mine tailings that still exist in the abandoned town today.

They claimed that years before Treece was ruled contaminated by the EPA, children who swam in the local Tar Creek Superfund site would end up with chemical burns (superficially resembling sunburn) all over their bodies.

[4] The reason that the chat piles and mine tailings are so dangerous is because of the high amount of lead that is still left in the rock.

[18] No studies have been done to determine the effects that the toxic environment left on the health of former residents of Treece, Kansas.

[4] The residents of Treece had been dealing and living with dangerous amounts of toxic waste in their backyards for 50–60 years before anything was done to clean up the area.