BP oil smoke in FL? (live in, moving, design)

[Randy Schweitzer]

The oil slick is hundreds of miles away. I find it difficult to understand how one could smell oil on our coast. One source recently said there were tar balls on Siesta Beach!!!! I could be totally wrong and if so, I apologize.

[lynne4t]

Originally Posted by Randy Schweitzer

The oil slick is hundreds of miles away. I find it difficult to understand how one could smell oil on our coast.

I live in Massachusetts. There is a wildfire in Quebec over 400 miles away. We smell & see the smoke. It is not "something else". It's all over the news.
Can you now believe that people in Sarasota, Bradenton, etc. can smell the oil?

I posted on another thread about the oil "spill" and wondered where the outrage was. I suspected 'denial' was one reason for the seeming lack of action among American citizens. That has become all too evident in these threads. They are burning the oil. At certain times you will smell it. Because you don't smell it doesn't mean it isn't so. It's time to face the facts that your beautiful shores are at risk.

[angelfish]

Originally Posted by lynne4t

I live in Massachusetts. There is a wildfire in Quebec over 400 miles away. We smell & see the smoke. It is not "something else". It's all over the news.
Can you now believe that people in Sarasota, Bradenton, etc. can smell the oil?

I posted on another thread about the oil "spill" and wondered where the outrage was. I suspected 'denial' was one reason for the seeming lack of action among American citizens. That has become all too evident in these threads. They are burning the oil. At certain times you will smell it. Because you don't smell it doesn't mean it isn't so. It's time to face the facts that your beautiful shores are at risk.

Doesn't it simply amaze you how ignorant some people are.

[Ace2serve]

First of all, I'm in central FL, so I can't attest to what you're referring to. When I lived up north, however, there was a severe swamp fire in NC and the smoke and haze from that wafted hundreds of miles north- that I can attest to personally. So it's possible that one could pick up the scent/haze from something far into the Gulf. Again, I'm inland, so I'm not sayin' it did/didn't happen, just sayin' it's possible.

Out of curiosity, I did some checking and the nearest residuals from the BP calamity are roughly 100+ miles west of the SRQ coastal area. NOAA reports that the tarballs are caught in a clockwise moving eddy and gulf winds are shifting west, which means that they'll more than likely circle around and follow the trajectory back toward AL, with estimates of more oil washing ashore there.

My best guestimate is that SRQ folks may notice some intermittent odor and haze, especially as the chemical treatments lodged in the tarballs "cook off" in the sun and are absorbed into the atmosphere... these low-lying particulates that evaporate and are carried via precipitous bodies, then dumped back into the surface during a good rain shower could potentially carry some residuals closer to the coast.

Here's a link to the map I'm referring to: http://response.restoration.noaa.gov/book_shelf/2101_SOFM24-2010-05-31-1900.pdf (broken link)

as well as the site (scroll all the way down to look at other maps): Deepwater Horizon Incident, Gulf of Mexico | Recent and Historical Incidents | Emergency Response | NOAA's National Ocean Service Office of Response and Restoration

Sarasota was voted one of the greenest cities in FL, and I'm looking to buy property in the keys, so I say this with hopes that my can of "Spill-B-Gone" works and FL doesn't see any of BP's aftermath. I also hope that the gov'nah reserves a bit of that $25M BP apology money (Sorry Charlie money, I call it) in case we Floridians have issues to address from this mess in the future.

Meanwhile, let's hope that our bare feet are the only things to ever hit our beautiful white sandy beaches.

P.s. Everyone says Siesta Key is the #2 beach in the US... but if the #1 beach was in HI, then wouldn't Siesta Key still be the #1 beach in the contiguous US? <=THAT should be the PR strategy IMO.

[d4g4m]

Seems that a lot of people have not been watching/listening to the news. Enironmentalists complained about air pollution from burning the oil so that process of 'clean up' was stopped. Seems that they would rather have destroyed wet lands than having some some in the air for a few days.

[fredquick]

The "smoke" came back at at my place in Gulf Gate late last evening (Mon 6/7/10) about 1145 and was quite strong for the first few hours. I noticed my eyes burning slightly and some breathing discomfort, finally got up and took Singulair. My wife usually can't smell anything but she identified the distinctive fuel smell right away. A recon of the neighborhood showed no local sources. It is not so bad this AM and hopefully will gradually diminish. Anybody else notice it?

[Col.W.Deering]

Originally Posted by fredquick

The "smoke" came back at at my place in Gulf Gate late last evening (Mon 6/7/10) about 1145 and was quite strong for the first few hours. I noticed my eyes burning slightly and some breathing discomfort, finally got up and took Singulair. My wife usually can't smell anything but she identified the distinctive fuel smell right away. A recon of the neighborhood showed no local sources. It is not so bad this AM and hopefully will gradually diminish. Anybody else notice it?

Nope, no odd air smell down in Venice for me. However, yesterday was an Air Quality Alert day. All people with breathing problems were told to stay inside if possible, due to the high "dust" particulates.

[saintpetegirl]

For the past 2 days/nights I have been noticing strong smells here in St. Pete.
At night when there is little wind, the smell is a heavy burned crayon scent that seems to hang in the air.

Last night, when the winds were blowing onshore - it smelled of acrid-chemicals. There was also smoke in the air. it's becoming quite noticeable.

[fredquick]

Tx for the tip, Col. I checked airnow.gov and was shocked to see that we are in the center of the orange bullseye. Dang! I always thot of Sarasota as having excellent air quality. Wonder if this is caused by a local industry or just onshore flow of BP's oil emissions? ...or maybe it has drifted down from Tampa?

Fuel odor still present here in GG, not as bad as last nite.

[fredquick]

Originally Posted by d4g4m

Seems that a lot of people have not been watching/listening to the news. Enironmentalists complained about air pollution from burning the oil so that process of 'clean up' was stopped. Seems that they would rather have destroyed wet lands than having some some in the air for a few days.

TX d4g4m for the info. I looked all over for some daily burning schedules but found nothing and no indication that they stopped it. Glad to see any other info u located. As a long-time asthma sufferer, my vote would be for more intensive skimming, mopping and sorbing w/ proper disposal, and less burning.