Evacuation of Times Beach, Missouri
The evacuation of Times Beach, Missouri, in 1983 was a significant environmental disaster response that resulted in the relocation of its entire population due to dioxin contamination. This small town had been contaminated when a toxic by-product of the production of Agent Orange was inadvertently spread on local roads to control dust. As health concerns arose, including illnesses among residents and the death of local animals, government officials began recommending evacuation. In February 1983, the federal government utilized Superfund resources to purchase the town and relocate approximately 2,300 to 3,000 residents.
The evacuation sparked ongoing debates about the severity of dioxin's health risks, with some officials later suggesting that the danger had been overstated. However, subsequent studies indicated that dioxin could have serious health implications, particularly affecting prenatal development and immune system function. The cleanup of Times Beach, which included incinerating contaminated soil, was controversial and faced opposition from environmental activists. By 1997, the cleanup was declared complete, and the area was transformed into Route 66 State Park, with later soil tests confirming it was free from contamination. This event highlights the complexities and challenges of environmental policy and public health decision-making.
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Evacuation of Times Beach, Missouri
THE EVENT: Relocation of the entire population of the town of Times Beach because of the threat posed by dioxin contamination
DATE: 1983
The events leading up to the evacuation of Times Beach and subsequent evaluations of the evacuation reflect the American public’s concern with environmental safety issues and serve to highlight the difficult decisions that government agencies must address in working to protect the public from environmental dangers.
During the 1960’s a chemical plant in Verona, Missouri, produced Agent Orange, a that was used during the Vietnam War. A of this production was a highly toxic compound called dioxin, which was stored in large tanks. Syntex Agribusiness purchased the chemical plant in 1969 and then leased part of it to Northeastern Pharmaceutical and Chemical Corporation (NEPACCO), which manufactured hexachlorophene. The production of hexachlorophene, a popular skin cleanser at the time, also created the by-product dioxin, which was added to the same large tanks previously used.
When Independent Petrochemical Corporation (IPC), one of NEPACCO’s suppliers, hired Russell Bliss to get rid of the compounds being stored in the tanks, Bliss, who also had contracted with local towns to spray unpaved roads to keep down the dust in summer, mixed the stored wastes with recycled oil and used the mixture in spraying the roads. Later, NEPACCO paid Bliss to dispose of additional wastes, which he did by spraying more roads. In 1971 thousands of gallons of recycled oil contaminated with were sprayed onto the unpaved streets of Times Beach, Missouri, a small town in the southwestern part of the state. At the time, the of dioxin had not been publicized and was not widely known.
Soon after the roads were sprayed, problems began. Horses, dogs, cats, chickens, rodents, and birds perished. Within a few months, children became ill. By 1981 government officials began recommending that people vacate the area.
Because dioxin binds tightly to soil and degrades very slowly, high levels of dioxin remained even ten years after the spraying. Soil tests conducted at Times Beach in November, 1982, verified the presence of high levels of dioxin in the town. Dioxin levels in some parts of the Times Beach area reached 100 to 300 parts per billion; at that time, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) believed that dioxin levels above 1 part per billion posed a potential to human health. The CDC recommended the temporary evacuation of Times Beach until more tests could be conducted. In February, 1983, using $36 million allocated under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, known as Superfund, the federal government purchased Times Beach and relocated the entire population, about 2,300 to 3,000 people.
After the Evacuation
Disagreements and debates continued to surround the events at Times Beach. In 1991 Vernon Houk, a top CDC official, stated that given the latest research findings on dioxin, he believed that the CDC overreacted by evacuating the of Times Beach; he asserted that the danger was not as great as had been thought. Although dioxin had been shown to cause chloracne, a serious skin disease, and had been related to cancer and birth defects in humans, subsequent studies showed to dioxin to be not a very great cancer threat unless the exposure was unusually high. In 1992 Edward Bresnick, chairman of the independent dioxin review panel of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), also stated that the government had overresponded at Times Beach.
Reports downplaying the toxicity of dioxin surfaced; some stated that significant increases in disease had not been documented at Love Canal (another Superfund site located in the state of New York) or at Seveso, Italy, the site of an accidental of dioxin-contaminated vapor in 1976. To evaluate the toxicity of dioxin further, the EPA began a series of studies in 1991 that, the agency hoped, would prove once and for all that dioxin contamination need not be a source of concern. In fact, the opposite was proved. The first studies discovered more, rather than fewer, problems with dioxin than had been noted previously. Researchers found dioxin to be particularly damaging to animals exposed while in utero and that the chemical affects behavior and learning ability and acts like a steroid hormone. They also found extensive effects of dioxin on the immune system.
The citizens of Times Beach brought hundreds of lawsuits against Syntex, the company many thought was responsible for the dioxin contamination. None of these lawsuits succeeded, however. A jury in St. Louis in 1988 rejected the cases of eight plaintiffs, citing a lack of medical evidence to support the claims.
The Superfund cleanup of Times Beach continued to generate debate. In a controversial decision, federal and state environmental officials decided to incinerate the contaminated soil of twenty-seven sites in Missouri, including Times Beach. Environmentalists feared the dangers of smokestack emissions and accidents and vehemently opposed the of contaminated soil. Their concern was justified: On March 20, 1990, a power outage led to the of thousands of pounds of dioxin-contaminated pollutants into the air. Although the risks associated with such were unknown, two environmental activist groups filed a federal lawsuit. A third organization, the Dioxin Incinerator Response Group, also opposed to incineration, argued that a feasible alternative to burning the dioxin-contaminated soil would be to store it in capped drums.
In July, 1997, the Environmental and Natural Resources Division of the U.S. Department of Justice announced that the cleanup of the Times Beach, Missouri, Superfund site was complete and that the land was once again fit for human use. Begun in 1984, the cleanup cost an estimated $200 million. A 165-hectare (409-acre) state park, named Route 66 State Park for the historical road that runs through it, was developed at the site. In 2012, the US Environmental Protection Agency analyzed soil samples at the Route 66 State Park and found no signs of contamination.
Bibliography
Edelstein, Michael R. Contaminated Communities: Coping with Residential Toxic Exposure. Rev. ed. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 2004.
Little, Jenn. “A Town, a Flood, and Superfund: Looking Back at the Times Beach Disaster Nearly 40 Years Later." US Environmental Protection Agency, 24 Nov. 2023, www.epa.gov/mo/town-flood-and-superfund-looking-back-times-beach-disaster-nearly-40-years-later. Accessed 24 July 2024.
Mason, Jan. “The Ordeal of a Poisoned Town.” Life, May, 1983, 58-62.
Schecter, Arnold, ed. Dioxins and Health. 3rd ed. Wiley, 2012.