TREECE, Kan. (AP) _ Almost everyone who lives in the tiny
southeast Kansas community of Treece knows there's not much of a
future there. With help from Sen. Pat Roberts, the 100 or so
residents are hoping the federal government will buy them out like
it did for Picher, Okla., just over the state line.

But the Environmental Protection Agency believes problems in
Treece can be fixed and there's no need for the government to move
anyone.

Treece is a former mining community that experienced decades of
prosperity before taking a steady path toward becoming a ghost
town.

The ground beneath the town has been undermined for metals, and
its landscape is dotted with cave-ins and uncapped shafts that are
filled with brownish water that is unfit for human consumption.