chemical smell penetrates homes in Floral Estates subdivision

61074. Smell by nomrgo, 12/14/09 10:59 ET
nola townhall forum

I live down the street from where the latest Murphy bungling happened. We were not home overnight on Saturday.

When we got home on Sunday just before the start of the game, we walked into our house and were immediately hit with a strong odor inside of our house.My wife and I both said that it smelled like oil. (Yes we are both highly aware of what that smells like!)

We had absolutely no idea that any incident had happened at Murphy. We checked the house for sources of the smell, but could not locate any. I then just assumed that perhaps with the rain the night before, the sewer may have backed up and it was just sewer gas we were smelling.

After the game, I was made aware of the USES trucks and workers down the street at the 20 arpent. I went over there and observed the oil booms in the canal and the workers hosing the stuff towards a pickup pump.

A brown oily looking substance was floating on the surface of the canal, both inside and outside of the containment booms. The odor was very strong and exactly what was smelled in my house. I took photos.

So Max and FatNutria, *** ***. I have a right to live in my own home without the expectation that I will routinely be poisoned and subjected to hazardous materials by a refinery who continues to have one screw up after another. They are incompetent.