TAARA Executive Committee members Barbara VanHanken and Kelsey Royce and TAARA volunteer Neera Singh attended the L.E.A.D Agency’s 27th Tar Creek Environmental Conference in Miami, OK October 7th and 8th, 2025. Local Environmental Action Demanded, or the L.E.A.D Agency is a 501(c) (3) non-profit dedicated to education about environmental justice concerns in Northeast Oklahoma and is a member of the Waterkeeper Alliance. Rebecca Jim and Earl Hatley founded the orga

Actions to protect the river can take many forms and sometimes you just need to have fun with it. This summer, when my 83-year-old mother and I realized how tired we were of writing letters to the editor, calling our representatives, and attending public meetings with no end in sight, we wondered what action we could take that would lift our spirits instead of weigh us down. “A street puppet parade”, I said enthusiastically. I had first experienced the power of street pup

After reviewing a year's worth of water quality tests, it's never been more clear that Zink Lake is unsafe. Charles Pratt, an electrical engineer and a strong advocate for the river, has been cautioning people since before the lake's opening. Although the city established a water quality dashboard, it merely confirms what Charles and others have been saying—the water isn't safe. Charles spent a year analyzing the test data from the city's dashboard to determine if increase

The South Tulsa Jenks Dam project, like the Zink Lake project, will further exacerbate the ecological damage to the river with little or no measurable benefits to anyone other than developers. The original budget for the City funding for the dam was over $64 million. Per the ordinance approximately $46 million could be reallocated for other uses upon cancelling the dam construction. Sign and share this Petition to prevent another Zink Lake debacle. Background on the

Congratulations are in order for River Advocate, Chuck Threadgill, who scored a major win in court after nearly 2 decades of battling OKDEQ for pollution protection enforcement in his own backyard. Chuck has poured his time, energy, and a ton of creativity into the clean water fight, even putting up billboards and making a commercial with a funny twist on "Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'" from the musical Oklahoma!Just like water slowly shapes the land, our push for environmenta

ODEQ received comments from the public on HF Sinclair's Tulsa West Refinery Draft RCRA Permit. Once approved, this permit dictates what the polluter, HF Sinclair, will do to end its contamination of the Arkansas River and how it will clean up the pollution caused by its refinery. Currently, LNAPL seepages from polluted groundwater are the source of sheening on the Arkansas River. This is contamination that we can all see within the footprint of Zink Lake. Members of the

March 25th, 2025 UPCOMING PUBLIC MEETING April 17th, 2025 AND A SHORT HISTORY OF THE WEST REFINERY ON THE ARKANSAS RIVER In response to...

UPCOMING PUBLIC MEETING 2.12.25 AND A SHORT HISTORY OF THE WEST REFINERY ON THE ARKANSAS RIVER

The Zink Lake/Dam and Flume has opened as scheduled despite the overnight rains that caused some issues with the surge of Ecoli bacteria...

As Zink Lake opens to the public for recreation this week, serious concerns about its safety remain. TAARA, alongside concerned Tulsa reside

We were honored to have experienced Grassroots organizer, manager, political strategist, non-profit entrepreneur, and my long time friend Ja