Juan Flores and his family live in Galena Park, Texas, which is bordered on three sides by pipeline terminals, oil refineries, fertilizer plants and rail yards.
...
After all these years, he is accustomed to the rhythms of life among the industrial plants. Strange smells and occasional warnings to shelter in place don't bother him too much. "I live so close to [one] company that I can hear their alarms," he says. "The thing is, you hear it so much you get immune to it, and it's like background noise."
But there are also times when he takes notice. "If I smell something out here, it's bad," he says, "and I can tell you during Harvey, it smelled real bad."
Hurricane Harvey caused industrial facilities in Texas to release an extra 5.98 million pounds of pollution into the air, according to the most recent analysis by the Environmental Defense Fund: the pollutants benzene and toluene, both carcinogens, as well as a brew of other chemicals that can irritate eyes and exacerbate respiratory problems.
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/11/13/560476366/slow-and-upbeat-epa-response-to-hurricane-harvey-pollution-angers-residents
Please feel free to ignore me. I have trouble deciding which cult is worse, the anti-nuclear cult, or the economic "productivity" cult that believes solar and wind will magically replace fossil fuels, all you need to do is invest in them! Believe!!!
The only way to quit fossil fuels is to quit fossil fuels. Outlaw them. Sadly, it ain't going to happen, and this world civilization, the first world civilization is going to die a very ugly death, nothing to do with nuclear power, everything to do with fossil fuels and those who believe that maybe fossil fuels are okay so long as they back up their green energy fantasies.
But... Fukushima!!!
No, I'm not apologizing for whatever mess the Russians made.
But I do wonder about people who are willing to fill their own car with gasoline without protective gear (suits, respirators, the whole works...), yet have fits about incidents such as this.
Toxins is toxins, radioactive or not.
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