Miss. Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant told people the petrol smell may be coming from their lawn mowers

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http://www.sunherald.com/2010/05/12/2177006/bryant-doesnt-smell-the-oil.html

Wednesday, May. 12, 2010

Bryant doesn’t smell the oil

By MARY PEREZ - [email protected]

BILOXI — Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant’s response to people in South Mississippi who’ve said they can smell oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf is, “No, you can’t.”

Speaking at Wednesday’s Coastal Development Strategies Conference, Bryant said the smell may be coming from their lawn mowers.

“That is not gasoline coming out of the Gulf,” he said

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http://www.sunherald.com/2010/05/13/2180126/bryant-you-may-be-smelling-oil.html

Thursday, May. 13, 2010

Bryant: You may be smelling oil, but not ‘gasoline’

By GEOFF PENDER - [email protected]

BILOXI — Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant on Thursday said he didn’t mean to insinuate in a Wednesday speech that Coast residents can’t smell the 4-million-gallon-and-growing oil spill in the Gulf.

“I’m not going to argue at all that someone could detect a petroleum-like, oil-based odor,” Bryant said Thursday. “I hope I did not imply that. What I said was that it’s not gasoline. I don’t want to be misunderstood. If a southerly wind begins to blow, certainly that would help move the odor of the product inward… . But what I had heard was people saying it smells like gasoline. You can’t smell gasoline, because this is not a refined product.”

Many attending the Coastal Development Strategies Conference on Wednesday, and many Sun Herald readers, did interpret Bryant’s comments to mean they are having olfactory hallucinations. His comments about the smell included, “No, you can’t,” and “that’s not gasoline coming out of the Gulf.” He also said the smell may be coming from people’s lawmowers.