Nearly 7,000 residents living in Blackwell, Oklahoma say they're dealing with a public health crisis.

Residents claim the entire town is contaminated with lead and arsenic, and they're blaming it on the Blackwell Zinc Smelter, a company who shut its doors more than 30 years ago.

Monday, the concerned residents decided to take their serious claims to court, filing a major class action lawsuit against the the the Phelps-Dodge corporation, the owners of the company which operated Zinc Smelter.

The lawsuit claims Phelps-Dodge failed to address lead, arsenic, and cadmium contamination in the Blackwell area.

According to residents, recent tests indicate 76 percent of homes in Blackwell contain unsafe levels of lead dust, 90 percent of homes are contaminated with high arsenic levels, and 30 percent of children have enough lead in their blood to cause brain damage.

The company's Web site indicates it has been involved with cleanup for more than 10years, and it is currently conducting soil sampling for another round of cleanup.

We tried to contact them for further comment. No one was available.