Yesterday in Venice, Louisiana, fishermen and local residents called a press conference to talk about the air. People complained of the oily smells when the wind is blowing off the water, and listed symptoms including headaches, nosebleeds, asthma attacks, cough, nausea, and vomiting. Those who had been out on the water said it was even worse out there.
I'm not surprised --Â I smelled it too. The smell that intermittently invades Venice and other locations along the Gulf Coast has a hint of creosote, but also the sickly smell of diesel fuel. It made my stomach turn, and I am not particularly sensitive to these things. It's clear that there's something in the air; the question is - is it harmful?
I went out late last week with an air monitoring device to look for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and benzene. It seemed reasonable to start with VOCs, especially benzene, because they are among the most toxic compounds that could be coming from the oil. I have blogged previously on the health effects of these chemicals.
Photos taken by NRDC, click for captions and more photos
During the two days I had the instrument, I only noticed the smell of oil once - when I was on a boat in Main Pass off the coast of Venice, with the wind blowing out of the south. The smell was intermittent, but the striking thing was that with each puff of odor the instrument detected an elevation in VOCs. The boat's engine had been off for more than five minutes and there was no other boat in sight. The chemicals were almost certainly coming off the oil.
The VOC levels that I measured were not terribly high - just a few parts-per-million - but the chemicals were clearly present in the air, despite the fact that there was no oily sheen visible on the water, and we were miles away from the spill. Unfortunately, the instrument malfunctioned, so I don't know if there was benzene in the air. The detectable VOC levels really made me worry about what things are like further out on the water where the fishermen are dragging boom and working to clean up the oil.
Thirteen fishermen asked us for respirators yesterday. They certainly didn't get any from BP. Instead, BP officials told the fishermen that the air quality is fine out where they are working to clean up the oil, but they won't release their data on air quality. Without the data, I can't verify if it's safe or not.
It's long past time for OSHA to step in to make BP release their data - or for the federal government to do independent measurements of air quality and release it to the public. People's noses aren't lying, and increasing numbers of fishermen and local residents are feeling ill. Something is in the air, and we need to know what it is.
This post originally appeared on NRDC's Switchboard blog.
Andy Stepanian: BP's Greenwashing Can't Clean Up Their Spill
We need to reclaim the valuable ad space within ourselves that BP has so smugly painted green and yellow. We need to challenge our notions that everything in this world is inexhaustible and put here solely for human use.
Robert Redford: Mr. President: Now Is the Time For Clean Energy
I am glad that President Obama announced that he would appoint an independent commission to look at the causes of the blow out. But it is not enough.
Make no mistake: we're entering the danger zone. And brace yourself, the fate of the planet could be at stake.
As dramatic and disastrous as the spill may be, it's not the greatest environmental threat facing the oceans today. The oceans are dialing 9-1-1, and it's our obligation to answer the call.
Dick Cheney will blame it on Obama...
Every oil spill will be the first.
Lessons learned: zero. Materials staged ahead of time - where are they? Teams trained to deal with spill ahead of time - same place as the materials. Checks made to see that regulators (MMS) were performing their duty: zero (there was sex and drinking going on between MMS people and oil co people...not too subtle).
So when that accident waiting to happen, BP Atlantis, blows, everyone will be shocked all over again - who could know that a rig with 89% of its safety paper work not filled out is a safety hazard - I mean...it's only papers...
So if a series of Titanics keeps hitting icebergs in the same spot year after year we will not change the speed, course. lookout policy, lifeboat policy...because accidents happen,,,and we can borrow the money from China to fix it all...we can replant all of the mangroves...right?
Its just a few trees - so when a future hurricane finishes eroding the barrier islands that protect New Orleans, and the new levees that only were built to protect for category three with the barrier islands are breached...
I mean...who could ever have predicted that?
Do I hear "The Tiger Rag?" I think that it is a turn of the century dance band. Might as well dance, we're paying for it!
the cycle of greed and power has turned it's final chapter, now we see the beginning of the end......welcome
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2010/05/oil_public_health_html
"We know that Exxon Valdez cleanup workers faced average oil mist exposure that was 12 times higher than government-approved limits, and those who washed the beach with hot water experienced a maximum exposure 400 times higher than these limits. Many of those workers suffered subsequent health problems and in 1989, 1,811 workers filed compensation claims, primarily for respiratory system damage, according to National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health. The cleanup efforts in Louisiana's coastal marshes may look very different, but cleaners can also face heavy exposure to oil mist. In fact, some are reporting that EPA studies now show that airborne levels of dangerous chemical compounds from the oil far exceed pre-determined safety standards."
After all this history, I'm baffled as to why oil spill workers are being told it is safe??? Why are workers, fishermen and even Gov Jindal, not wearing masks and protective clothing? ....It's a complete COVER UP - they'd rather not get people too riled up so they withold the truth. Someone needs to alert these workers that they are not safe! And call on the administration to do something immediately!!!! SOMEBODY HELP THEM!!!
This is a frightening story. Actually, breathing oil fumes can make people really sick. It's criminal for BP to be telling fishermen that air quality is "fine." Here's the truth from :
http://oils.gpa.unep.org/facts/faqs.htm
"Can an oil spill affect human health?
* Yes. Volatile components (the strong smell that you feel from oil products is due to such gases that evaporate) of oil can burn eyes, burn skin, irritate or damage sensitive membranes in the nose, eyes and mouth. Hydrocarbons can trigger pneumonia if it enters the lungs. Benzene and other light hydrocarbon can damage red bloods cells, suppress immune systems, strain the liver, spleen and kidneys. Generally, refined products tend to be more toxic, but people who clean up shorelines from oil spills must protect themselves from inhaling these gases also when it is a matter of crude oil. Some of the light fractions of oil, such as the aromatic components (e.g., benzene), are also known to cause cancer and are very toxic to humans."
Please spread the word about this. People must hear the truth about the danger facing shoreline workers and fishermen and anyone exposed to the fresh spill!!!!
Mikey Carver: "Because of molecules we are connected to the outside world from our bodies. Like when you smell things, because when you smell a smell it's not really a smell, it's a part of the object that has come off of it, molecules. So when you smell something bad, it's like in a way you're eating it. This is why you should not really smell things, in the same way that you don't eat everything in the world around you because as a smell, it gets inside of you. So the next time you go into the bathroom after someone else has been there, remember what kinds of molecules you are in fact eating."
The oil was all around:
It gushed and swirled, and drenched and choked
Like a lesson so profound!
At length did cross a Pelican,
Thorough the fog it came;
As if it had been a Christian soul,
We hail'd it in God's name.
It ate the oil it ne'er had eat,
And round and round it flew.
Till it fell, sad tale to tell
So oily through and through..
On a more serious side. Maybe the US needs to take a page out of the Hugo Chavez play book and Nationalize all BP assets within the US & Territories and after strict inspections for safety, add the oil to our National Reserves and use it as a way to control prices, along with a stiff tax on use, with credits for low incomes for heating oil…….
On the lighter side of this disaster. Is this Obama’s Moby Dick?
If so, guess we should start calling him President Ahab, for his compulsive pursuit for drilling off shore.
I bet when it shifts east, you will smell oil in Tarpon Springs and Clearwater Beach.
I used to live in Dunedin, near Honeymoon Island, and I can't imagine what the impact will be.
To think that Caladesi Island was ranked the most beautiful beach in the world (higher than Hawaiian beaches), and now this.
I feel so bad for my friends that live on the water there in Pinellas County.