Shell tries to quash air quality fears from Beaver County chemical plant | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
When a #terrible #odor blanketed the area around the #Shell #Oil #cracking plant earlier this month, residents had only their noses and sporadically high readings from public air monitors to assess the situation.
Many were left wondering what they were exposed to and whether it was dangerous.
Shell officials hired a senior toxicologist from the consulting contractor #CTEH — the same company hired by #Norfolk #Southern in the wake of its derailment in East Palestine — who told the community that it was safe.
The levels of #benzene, a known carcinogen, detected at the fence line of the petrochemical plant in #Beaver #County PA were too low to “be associated with even transient discomfort or irritation,” said Christopher Kuhlman, the toxicologist that #Shell #hired to review air data and assess exposure.
But Anthony Pizon, chief of medical toxicology at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s Department of Emergency Medicine, who reviewed the air monitoring data on Monday, said “You can #smell something and it can be #irritating.”
“From my vantage point, it’s hard to go off those numbers,” he said. “I would look at the patients themselves.”
He encouraged anyone who thinks they were #exposed to anything #toxic to call the #poison #control #center at 800-222-1222.
https://www.post-gazette.com/business/powersource/2023/04/26/shell-cracker-plant-smell-benzene-air-quality/stories/202304260075