top of page


Data Story: City's Water Dashboard Proves Zink Lake Water is Unsafe for People
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

TAARA
May 302 min read
Â
Â
Â


ANOTHER Dam Problem in the Arkansas River?
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

TAARA
May 211 min read
Â
Â
Â


Persistence Pays Off
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

TAARA
Apr 231 min read
Â
Â
Â


ODEQ Public Hearing UPDATE!!!
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

TAARA
Apr 181 min read
Â
Â
Â


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

TAARA
Mar 255 min read
Â
Â
Â


POSTPONED:Public Meeting
UPCOMING PUBLIC MEETING 2.12.25 AND A SHORT HISTORY OF THE WEST REFINERY ON THE ARKANSAS RIVER

TAARA
Feb 15 min read
Â
Â
Â



TAARA
Oct 18, 20240 min read
Â
Â
Â


The Big Dam Party…AT YOUR OWN RISK!
The Zink Lake/Dam and Flume has opened as scheduled despite the overnight rains that caused some issues with the surge of Ecoli bacteria...

Barbara VanHanken
Oct 8, 20242 min read
Â
Â
Â


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

TAARA
Aug 30, 20243 min read
Â
Â
Â


Rally at the Arkansas River with Jane Kleeb
We were honored to have experienced Grassroots organizer, manager, political strategist, non-profit entrepreneur, and my long time friend Ja

Barbara VanHanken
Feb 23, 20242 min read
Â
Â
Â
bottom of page