My husband’s family is from Alaska. They lived through the Exxon Valdez oil spill 21 years ago. Or rather, they’ve been living through it for the last 21 years. As it becomes glaringly apparent the BP oil “spill” will soon eclipse the Exxon Valdez in terms of size (if it hasn’t already – depending on whose data you believe), my mother-in-law, Gayle Roth, is supplying me a steady stream of information that is vital for gulf coast residents to read and understand, NOW – not later. Due to the extent of information available I’m going to prioritize and share what I can as I can. By the way, for information on the spill, I like SkyTruth’s site.
The first is this video that any volunteer considering working for BP in the clean up must see. Gayle says the health of those volunteers who worked to clean up Exxon’s mess is still an ongoing discussion in Alaska. Gayle has a friend staying with her now who was one of those volunteers. He was just telling her last night how lucky he was not to have worked the coastline where they used the dispersants; many are dead or very ill.