In the early 1980s, the town of Times Beach, MO (southwest of St. Louis) had to be evacuated due to dioxin contamination and also the flooding of the Meramec River. For years the town had contracted with a businessman named Russell Bliss to spray waste oil on the town's dirt roads to keep the dust down. Unfortunately, Bliss sprayed oil that was contaminated with very high levels of dioxin, the chemical used in the military defoliant Agent Orange. Around the time the chemical contamination was discovered, the town was almost completely flooded, so it was decided to permanently evacuate. Today the area is a state park.
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