Merle Savage worked as a foreman of clean-up activities in the aftermath of the disastrous 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska. I received this note from Ms. Savage the other day:
My name is Merle Savage, a female general foreman during the Exxon Valdez oil spill (EVOS) beach cleanup, and one of the 11,000+ cleanup workers, who is suffering from health issues from that toxic cleanup, without compensation from Exxon.Dr. Riki Ott visited me in 2007 to explain about the toxic spraying on the beaches, and informed me that Exxon's medical records that surfaced in litigation by sick workers in 1994, had been sealed from the public, making it impossible to hold Exxon responsible for their actions. (Link)
Beach crews breathed in crude oil that splashed off the rocks and into the air -- the toxic exposure turned into chronic breathing conditions, central nervous system problems, neurological impairment, chronic respiratory disease, leukemia, lymphoma, brain tumors, liver damage, and blood disease. (Link)
My web site is devoted to searching for EVOS cleanup workers who were exposed to the toxic spraying, and are suffering from the same illnesses that I have. Our summer employment turned into a death sentence for many — and a life of unending medical conditions for the rest of Exxon’s Collateral Damaged.
Esquire recently featured a profile of Ms. Savage and noted the danger Gulf clean up workers now face:
After studying cleanup workers from the Exxon Valdez spill, Ott is convinced that today's Gulf fishermen are not merely risking their short-range health. "The Exxon Valdez oil was considerably less toxic than Louisiana sweet crude, and it wreaked havoc on any life forms that encountered it," she says, including brain lesions, coma, and death. "We are setting up here for a giant human tragedy — decades of misery — especially if a storm or hurricane spreads it to normal everyday people onshore."
Christ, what a nightmare.
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