Odor of burning oil reaches Northwest Florida

[highplainsdem]

Source: The Destin Log

BREAKING NEWS: Odor of burning oil reaches Northwest Florida
May 20, 2010 9:33 AM
Wendy Victora
Daily News

-snip-

Okaloosa County Public Safety sent out a press release at 9:30 on Thursday to notify the public that the odors people are noticing are from Wednesday's burning operations. There are no reports of oil offshore, however.

Fort Walton Beach resident Rebecca Goodman first noticed the smell Wednesday evening when she left her job on Racetrack Road. She at first assumed it was crews working in the area but when she continued to smell it miles away, she became suspicious.

When she stopped at a store near the foot of Brooks Bridge, one of the merchants told her it was burning oil.

"I got off work yesterday at 5:30 and I smelled it then," Goodman said, struggling to describe it. "It smells kind of oily, but not fumes. It's an odd smell, kind of strong toxic smell. It's very strong."

-snip-

Read more: http://www.thedestinlog.com/news/oil-29168-nwfdn-burning-public.html

[Catherina]

1. The nightmare hasn't even begun :( n/t

[Uncle Joe]

13. I agree. :( n/t

[kestrel91316]

2. Floridians will no doubt complain about the smell and mess and inconvenience

when it all finally impacts them, but will not decrease their oil usage one iota.

It's the Amurkan Way.

[Myrina]

4. Yep, we don't want to change our lifestyles to prevent the problem in the first place ....

... we just want someone else to make the inconvenience and mess go away, NOW.


:eyes: Oy, America.

[Celebration]

6. If we had a law like Brazil has

Requiring all cars sold there to be able to operate on gasoline OR alcohols, we wouldn't even have to change our lifestyles much. And they are now 100% oil independent.

[felinetta]

3. And yet, BP tries to put a good spin out. How insulting! What, they believe we will trust them.

[jdlh8894]

5. Like there's not allready 30,000 wells in the gulf

And over 4,000 rigs drilling.And she is just NOW smelling it!

[highplainsdem]

7. Orange Beach AL residents reported a petroleum scent last night:

http://blog.al.com/live/2010/05/gulf_oil_spill_orange_beach_re.html

Gulf oil spill: Orange Beach residents report petroleum-like scent
By Ryan Dezember
May 20, 2010, 10:32AM

On Wednesday evening, when the winds died down and a light fog settled over southernmost Baldwin County, Orange Beach residents said they got a strong whiff of a petroleum-like scent.

Standing outdoors, Orange Beach City Councilman Brett Holk said, the stench became akin to being in tight quarters with a can of WD-40.

According to BP PLC officials, at least 210,000 gallons of crude oil each day is gushing from the undersea well, which sank during an expolosion a month ago on the offshore drilling rig Deep Horizon.

By this morning, though, the winds had changed and the odor was no longer discernable, according to the Baldwin County residents.

[DCBob]

8. Just love the smell of napalm in the morning..

sickening.;(

[salazarmms]

14. A little benzene for breakfast

and some tar

[Flipper999]

9. Get used to that smell everybody!

It's not going anywhere for a while.

:(

[amerfayed]

10. Ft. Myers has been smelling this for weeks (Southwest FL)

Residents report strange smell in Lee County
Posted: Apr 26, 2010 10:46 PM EDT Updated: Apr 27, 2010 2:43 PM EDT

LEE COUNTY: Residents are baffled by a mysterious oil and kerosene-like odor drifting along the coastline.

One theory is that fumes wafted in from last week's oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico.

Our Chief Meteorologist Robert Van Winkle says it is "possible" with a shift in winds from the front that brought the storms could be the oil rig fire in Louisiana.

The oil is escaping from two leaks in a drilling pipe about 5,000 feet below the surface. The leaks threaten hundreds of miles of coastline in four states.

Our newsroom has received several calls about the strange smell.

Cape Coral dispatch confirms they have also received complaints.

Residents in the Tampa area say the smell has been lingering for a couple days.

Tuesday afternoon, the Department of Environmental Protection issued this statement:

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has received several inquiries regarding an odor reported along the state's Gulf Coast. We are currently looking into the situation and continue to closely monitor air quality. Data from the DEP monitoring network for particulate matter is not showing any abnormal results at this time. The Pinellas County Department of Environmental Management, Air Quality Division has taken volatile organic compound samples and will expedite its analysis in order to receive the results later this week. We are coordinating closely with the county, and as soon as more information becomes available we will be sharing it with the public.

[madrchsod]

11. could that be the chemical dispersement smell?

[happygoluckytoyou]

12. ITS HANUKKA IN FLORIDA!!!!! w00t!!!!