The Houston Chronicle reported today on a recent oil spill in Texas. Residents of Baytown awoke to an eerie grey mist hanging over their town, like in a John Carpenter movie. Cars were coated with a slippery film of oil, so that locals found it difficult to open their car doors (but easier to open that front gate, which was needing a little WD40). When resident Felicia Joseph called the authorities, no one came.

For six years Felicia Joseph lived beside one of the nation’s largest oil refineries — and not once did she complain about pollution. “It’s like living near a bakery,” said the 34-year-old hairdresser. “You know you are going to smell baked goods. You pretty much know what you are up against.”

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Yes, just like living near a bakery. In which case an accident like this would have caused her neighborhood to be showered in a fine mist of cinnamon buns.

Flawed Response To Exxon Spill Exposed (Houston Chronicle)

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