Times Beach Missouri Dioxin Contamination

Brief Outline Times Beach is a small town in St. Louis County, Missouri Population ~ 1500 Problems began 1970; lead to Government buying out residents, Christmas 1982 Largest civilian exposure of Dioxin in US history Lead to laws concerning safety practices involving chemical manufacturing and waste disposal.

Dioxins 1,2 Dioxin very unstable 1,4 Dioxin stable Two Benzene rings connected by two oxygen atoms Produced in many industrial processes Considered very toxic – “possibly the most toxic substance known to man” Lipophilic biological life can be 100+ years Non polar – dissolves in Organic compounds (not water) 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin

Misdemeanours – Disposal?? NEPACCO and Hoffman-Taff used high amounts of hexachlorophene and trichlorophenol, respectively, sharing facilities. Still bottom produced - a thick, smelly residue that contained highly concentrated dioxin from the processes left over as a form of waste Initially sent for incineration at Louisiana, but became too costly Call in contractor/subcontractor to haul the waste away - Russell Bliss Contaminant mixed with other waste oils to produce a spray Safe level of dioxin is 1 part per billion (PPB) Dioxin level later found in Still bottom: 2 million times higher, at 2000 PPM

Mismanagement 1972: Bliss, unaware of the dioxin present in home-made spray, went to work covering the 23 miles of dirt road periodically over 4 years Horse stables also sprayed resulting in the death of 62 horses, birds and hospitalised children of Piatt family. CDC became alerted 1980 – EPA found 90 leaky drums containing Still Bottom with 2000 PPM of dioxin. Lead to suing of NEPACCO by government 1982 – “Moon-suited" investigators finished taking samples Unfortunate timing as the river flooded, spreading the contaminant Results showed 300 PPB of dioxin in the soil of Times Beach.

Clean Up After buying out the town in 1983, remedial decision was made to incinerate the dioxin-contaminated soil on site Incineration is still the best known method to completely rid dioxin A Rotary-Kiln Incinerator burnt dioxins from the lowered-moisture content soil and fed the Flue Gases into a Secondary Combustion Chamber to volatize and completely destroy the dioxin 260,000 tons of solid waste was processed, and another 2000 tons had to be re-incinerated to meet land fill criterion Incase of another flood from the river, a 3m high barrier was built

Rotary-Kiln Incinerator

Conclusion Superfund gained public awareness and continues to fund the clean up of contaminated land in USA Increased public awareness of hazardous waste Viktor Yushchenko Thanks to Times Beach we now have laws that govern every aspect of an industrial operation and its impacts