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The Three Affiliated Tribes’ environmental division is worried that children will play with the potentially radioactive filters used by the oil industry that are illegally dumped in fields, dumpsters and along the roads.

Edmund Baker, acting director of the tribes’ Environmental Division, said the filter socks have been found in tribal dumpsters and along roads throughout the reservation, but particularly in the Mandaree area around dumpsters set out for community use.

Children are a particular concern because the filters look like small nets and could be mistaken for an item they could use for play or for fishing, he said.

He issued a public notice on the matter Friday and says he plans to attend segment meetings around the reservation to educate the public on the danger.

“This office is asking the communities to report any illegal activity regarding the dumping or the abandoning of these filters within our boundaries,” he said.

The notice informs the public that there is a special procedure for disposal of the socks. No one should handle them and instead, they should be reported to his office.