Monday, myself and a birding partner paddled over to Ruth Island which is a man made coral island. During the construction of the oil refinery back in the 60's on St. Croix they had to dredge out a ship channel. The solution to where to put the debris was solved by creating a huge mound of coral rubble, which is our Ruth Island. Over the years vegetation and birds have taken possession and the place is a private little wild life sanctuary.
i'm helping with a Least Tern monitoring program and Ruth Island is a site where they fish and mate. Its so much fun to be doing science and enjoying nature, but here's the rub, about a half mile away is one of the largest oil refineries in the western hemisphere. All through the tank farm Least Terns are mating and nesting. It is one of the most successful colonies on the island and our most industrial area.
The birds love it even with the noise of the cat cracker and flares. Nature can coexist with industry. Which brings me to thoughts about the oil spill. As long as a disaster is not happening in ourbackyard we are pretty oblivious to its long term effects.
Today, there is money to be made. Anyone that follows disasters knows that if they make a bee-line for the Gulf coast oil clean-up jobs will be available for years to come. Top notch disaster followers will covet and obtain the cushy jobs. No front line work for the manager's and the office personnel. Men and women will pour in from all over looking for work that they hope will give them a leg up in this hard scrabble world of ours. These disaster followers will put their health on the line to make a buck.
By the time workers on the front lines, who will be covered in oil day in and day out, realize what this may do to their long term health it will be too late.
Its not just the chase after the almighty dollar, these workers have to find housing, get their meals and still pay their bills. After the day is done and the money is used up, what will they have? Well they may have the possibility that cancer will appear, that respiratory problems will increase, skin lesions may form and a whole host of other health problems, maybe even brain damage they had never considered may show up sooner in their lifetimes than normal.
Oil is hazardous to your health. How much can the body take breathing fumes day in and day out? What are the risks of having oil on your skin for extended periods? What are the toxic effects? No one knows because its never been studied and a spill of this magnitude has no research data to relate back to. If this was a one day affair like most spills the workers would be cleaning for at least 90 days. But this isn't a one day affair and it has no shut off schedule. For all we know it might not ever stop until all the oil is drained out.
What is known is that crude oil workers suffer from headaches, stinging eyes, stuffiness, nausea and coughs. Since there is spotty research on crudes long term effects, BP's minions should be out in force to minimize any adverse thoughts by their potential clean up crews. I'm sure they will hit the media so that doubt about any ill effects becomes another issue.
Oil refineries, ship tankers, pipe line outfits, well diggers, all of these have safety measures that must be followed to work around oil. They use breathing aparatus and skin protectors and keep the exposure to a minimum. My husband worked in an oil refinery for a long time and tried never to touch the stuff.
No one knows what will happen to the workers being hired to clean-up this oil spill. But if you are considering following the disaster to make a buck, think twice and if you do go don't agree to work with out protection.
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