, and look straight down the street, past the other houses and

canada goose coats on sale Overpolluting Neighbor

canada goose clearance If you stand in front of Almena and Sidney Poray’s house in Baton Rouge, La., and look straight down the street, past the other houses and the shade trees, you see more than a dozen plumes of exhaust in canadian goose jacket various hues of gray and white.

canada goose store “That’s something you see every day, the same thing if cheap canada goose uk not more,” says Almena Poray. “Sometimes it’s a darker gray; sometimes it’s a black smoke coming out.”

The Porays live in a canada goose store neighborhood called Standard Heights originally buy canada goose jacket home to workers at canada goose uk outlet a refinery built by Standard Oil in 1909, just after Ford introduced its Model T and made cars affordable for the masses.

Now the refinery, owned by Canada Goose sale Exxon Mobil, is the second largest in the country and part of an industrial complex uk canada goose the size of 250 Superdomes.

Tens of thousands of people live within 2 miles of the complex, which produces gasoline for much of the East Coast. The petrochemical plants inside the complex make materials used in products such as diapers, chewing canada goose clearance sale gum, tires and makeup.

Canada Goose Jackets The Porays are some of its closest neighbors. They’ve lived a block from the south gate of the complex for about 20 years. But in the past year the Porays and other Standard Heights residents have gained more insights about the pollution from the facility. A big accident and a surprise inspection have shown them problems inside its gates.

The state government gives Exxon permission to pump out millions of pounds of air pollution each year from its Baton Rouge complex. But because of accidents and leaks, from 2008 canada goose uk black friday to 2011 the Exxon Mobil Baton Rouge complex put out nearly 4 million pounds of volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, without the government’s approval, according to data obtained from the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality through a public records request and analyzed by NPR.

VOCs can contribute to the formation of ground level ozone or smog, which causes respiratory problems such as asthma attacks.

buy canada goose jacket cheap And that amount is canada goose factory sale just what the company admits to. Studies have shown that some Texas petrochemical companies vastly underestimate their VOC pollution. A study by scientists at the National canada goose clearance Oceanic Atmospheric Administration and North Carolina State canada goose black friday sale University in 2007 showed some VOC emissions were about an order of magnitude higher than reported by this industry Canada Goose Parka in Houston. An earlier study by NOAA scientists in 2003 showed even bigger underestimates. Reported emissions of some VOCs were between 10 and 100 times less than what scientists measured. More recent studies show that uk canada goose outlet the underestimating continues.

Canada Goose https://www.thebeatlestimeline.com Parka Exxon says its pollution does not endanger the people living near the plant.

Canada Goose Outlet “With respect to our operations, it is definitely safe to live in the Standard Heights community,” Exxon wrote in an email to NPR.

But after a year in which residents learned that Exxon underplayed a big accident and then the Environmental Protection Agency found pervasive corrosion inside the refinery, some people who live in Standard Heights are skeptical.

canada goose clearance sale “Every Canada Goose Online time I look at the plant, that big plant, I see skull and Canada Goose Jackets crossbones,” says Larry Alexander, who also owns a Canada Goose Outlet house near the Exxon Baton Rouge complex.

Canada Goose online Exxon Plays Down Major Accident

The air in Standard Heights seemed really bad June 14, 2012.

canadian goose jacket The first thing Tonga Nolan heard that day was her teenage daughter, who shares a room with her, getting sick.

“My daughter woke canada goose clearance sale up out of her sleep vomiting really bad,” recalls Nolan, who took her daughter to the emergency room.

canada goose deals Ernest Gordon says the smell was so terrible that his family couldn’t bear it.

“We left and rode to the country, because we thought something was buy canada goose jacket cheap going to happen,” he recalls.

Canada Goose sale What Are Volatile Organic Compounds?

canada goose These are chemicals that evaporate or turn to gas when exposed to the air. Many VOCs including benzene, 1,3 butadiene and toluene are on EPA’s list of toxic or hazardous air pollutants because they are known or suspected to cause cancer or other serious health problems.

Some VOCs also Canada Goose Coats On Sale contribute to smog. When it’s sunny, chemical reactions between VOCs and nitrogen form ground level canada goose coats on sale ozone, also known as smog. Breathing ozone canada goose uk shop can trigger a variety of health problems including chest pain, coughing, throat irritation and congestion. It can worsen bronchitis, cheap Canada Goose emphysema and asthma.

cheap Canada Goose What the residents of Standard Heights didn’t know was that in the early hours of that morning, workers in the plant had discovered a major accident. A product called naphtha was spilling out of a tank and turning into toxic vapor. canada goose coats Exxon and state officials measured levels Canada Goose online of the VOC benzene in the facility that far exceeded the federal government’s short term exposure limits.

It just so happened that on the same day of that June 14 accident, two staffers from the EPA were in Standard Heights. They represent the EPA’s environmental justice office, which tries to address an unfair truth: People who live near big polluting plants tend to have low incomes.

buy canada goose jacket One place the EPA staffers stopped was Almena Poray’s house. They asked what it’s like to live so close to Exxon. For example, does Exxon use a system to warn neighbors of accidents? Poray brought up the mysterious bad odors her family sometimes smells.

After their visit was over, Poray started to walk them outside. When she opened the back door, a horrible smell hit them.

canada goose coats Poray says they asked if canada goose that odor was an example of what she had just been telling them, and then they rushed to their car.