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Gulf oil spill still out to sea, but odor has reached shore
Areas of Bay St. Louis, Waveland and Gulfport reported pervasive petroleum smells Tuesday.
It was described variously as a burned-plastic odor, odd waxy smell and the smell of diesel exhaust.
It's to be expected, officials said, with all that crude oil in the Gulf.
But the EPA is monitoring the air on the Coast constantly with two buses and a plane, a spokesman said Tuesday. So far it's safe.
He said people can smell the chemical odor of evaporating crude at levels in the air well below the levels that concern the EPA.
"The smell and the health concern are two different things," said Francisco Cruz, EPA spokesman out of Mobile.
What people likely are smelling is the volatile organic compounds that have evaporated into the air, one group of airborne elements the EPA is monitoring. These include benzene, toluene and ethylbenzene.
Cruz described this as similar to smelling gasoline fumes at the gas pump.