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Health Department: Odor from Chemical Spill Affecting Eight Mile Community By Allen Carter and J.B. Biunno Published: March 15, 2017, 3:41 pm Updated: March 15, 2017, 10:59 pm
EIGHT MILE, AL ? The Alabama Department of Public Health is acknowledging the impact being felt by the Eight Mile community from odors that are the result of a 2012 chemical spill...
EIGHT MILE, AL ? The Alabama Department of Public Health is acknowledging the impact being felt by the Eight Mile community from odors that are the result of a 2012 chemical spill...
'We cannot breathe:' A poor Alabama town has lived with the rotten egg stench of gas for 8 years
By Ivan Penn
Oct. 15, 2016 | REPORTING FROM EIGHT MILE, ALA.
When methane started leaking out of a well at the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility outside Los Angeles last October, noxious fumes blanketed the nearby Porter Ranch neighborhood for months. Residents complained of nausea, nosebleeds and vomiting; more than 8,000 families were forced out of their homes by the stench of the chemical odorant added to natural gas to help detect leaks.
Two thousand miles away, in a poor Alabama community, residents are complaining of similar symptoms after lightning struck equipment at an underground pipeline. An estimated 500 gallons of the same chemical spilled into the soil and groundwater, according to state environmental officials.
But, unlike in affluent, predominantly white Porter Ranch, residents in Eight Mile have been largely ignored, stuck for eight years with the stifling rotten egg stench that still hovers over the low-income, mostly African American enclave just north of the Gulf of Mexico...
...
Markell Williams was just 3 years old when a powerful chemical oozed into the soil and water less than a mile from his home. By age 5, he was having seizures.
His mother, Raquel Williams, 33, blames the chemical?s pungent smell that permeates the air in their community. Whenever the odor would grow strong ? and it can hit with a blast that sometimes forces people to run for cover ? it seemed to trigger Markell?s seizures with growing intensity and frequency, his mother said.
...
The Facebook page for the We Matter 8 Mile Community Assn. includes photos of infants and toddlers on ventilators, children with blood dripping from their noses and adults wearing medical masks to protect themselves from the stench.
But Davis, who is the association?s president, said that Mobile Gas and government officials are treating the problem as merely an unpleasant odor despite reports ? for eight years running ? that residents are being sickened...
By Ivan Penn
Oct. 15, 2016 | REPORTING FROM EIGHT MILE, ALA.
When methane started leaking out of a well at the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility outside Los Angeles last October, noxious fumes blanketed the nearby Porter Ranch neighborhood for months. Residents complained of nausea, nosebleeds and vomiting; more than 8,000 families were forced out of their homes by the stench of the chemical odorant added to natural gas to help detect leaks.
Two thousand miles away, in a poor Alabama community, residents are complaining of similar symptoms after lightning struck equipment at an underground pipeline. An estimated 500 gallons of the same chemical spilled into the soil and groundwater, according to state environmental officials.
But, unlike in affluent, predominantly white Porter Ranch, residents in Eight Mile have been largely ignored, stuck for eight years with the stifling rotten egg stench that still hovers over the low-income, mostly African American enclave just north of the Gulf of Mexico...
...
Markell Williams was just 3 years old when a powerful chemical oozed into the soil and water less than a mile from his home. By age 5, he was having seizures.
His mother, Raquel Williams, 33, blames the chemical?s pungent smell that permeates the air in their community. Whenever the odor would grow strong ? and it can hit with a blast that sometimes forces people to run for cover ? it seemed to trigger Markell?s seizures with growing intensity and frequency, his mother said.
...
The Facebook page for the We Matter 8 Mile Community Assn. includes photos of infants and toddlers on ventilators, children with blood dripping from their noses and adults wearing medical masks to protect themselves from the stench.
But Davis, who is the association?s president, said that Mobile Gas and government officials are treating the problem as merely an unpleasant odor despite reports ? for eight years running ? that residents are being sickened...