Toxic Benzene Fills Air Weeks After Tar Sands Spill

http://intellihub.com/2013/05/09/toxic-benzene-fills-air-weeks-after-tar-sands-spill/








Toxic Benzene Fills Air Weeks After Tar Sands Spill











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More than a month after ExxonMobil’s pipeline spilled thousands of
barrels tar sands crude, Arkansas Attorney General warns of nauseating
conditions in area


by Andrea Germanos
Common Dreams
May 9, 2013

Five weeks after ExxonMobil’s Pegasus pipeline ruptured and spewed
thousands of barrels of tar sands oil in Mayflower, Arkansas, residents
are stuck “on their own” as they suffer from health problems following
noxious black cloak that enveloped their neighborhood.

“Both the subdivision and the cove look more like construction sites
than neighborhoods,” Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel said
at a press conference on Tuesday of the cove area of Lake Conway.
“There’s heavy equipment everywhere, much of it contaminated with oil as
it goes down roads and through people’s yards.”



And in contrast to claims from the government and ExxonMobil that the
air is safe to breathe, McDaniel said, “Many continue to suffer from
headaches and nausea and air sampling continues to show the carcinogen
benzene remains in the air.”