Historical Uses of Waste Oil As Dust Control

Since the 1910s, when the automobile began to be seen, dust rising from unpaved roads has been a noticeable issue. Even after paving became common--to the point at which the Interstate Highway came into existence--dusty roads in rural areas and small towns remained a problem. Today, dust is still a problem around large work sites like open-pit mines, quarries and agricultural cropland.

Dust Control

• Since nuisance dust has many sources in the environment, a permanent solution is not feasible. Water was commonly used--and still is in some cases. Road dust control must take into account the type of road and the terrain in which it is situated: The solution for a paved road in the desert will be very different than for a gravel road in the rural upper Midwest.

Road Oiling

• A transportation landmark was passed in 1910 when Bath Township, in Ohio, gave permission to Standard Oil Company to oil the roads at Hammond's Corners. This appears to be one of the earliest records of the use of oil on roads.

  In 1983, an estimated 50 to 80 million gallons of waste oil were used as a dust suppressant for dirt roads in the United States. At the time, road oiling was banned in eight states and regulated in thirteen. By 1992, there were still 24 million gallons of waste oil placed on roads every year to suppress dust.

Environmental Nightmare

• Times Beach, Missouri, was a small town of 2,200, 17 miles southwest of St Louis. The town could not afford to pave its many dirt streets and was plagued with a dust problem, so between 1972 and 1976 waste oil was sprayed on the roads by a contractor. When the spraying resulted in the death of 62 horses, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention began an investigation in 1979. The Environmental Protection Agency arrived in 1982 and identified dangerous levels of dioxin, which had been mixed with the waste oil for illegal disposal. The contamination was so bad the federal government bought the town and evacuated the entire population in 1985. After the site sat silent behind barricades, 265,000 tons of contaminated soil was removed in 1997.

Banning the Practice

• In June 1985, the EPA declared: “The use of waste or used oil or other material which is contaminated or mixed with dioxin or any other hazardous waste…for dust suppression or road treatment is prohibited.” In September 1992, the EPA decided to prohibit the use of any used oil as a dust suppressant. However, certain states can petition the EPA to exempt their state from the national ban.

Best Practices

• Today, several products are available for controlling dust from unpaved roads. Chloride salts are the most popular since they work by drawing moisture out of the air and bind the dust. Other products are dusting “oils” made to be non-toxic and harmless.