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Oil and Gas Project
Poison Gas Continues to

Menace Residents
State Ignores Call to Remove
Hazardous Operations from
Neighborhoods
Last October four oil wells in Filer Township including
the one above were temporarily shut down while state
investigators looked into an accident involving "strong
fumes," possibly poisonous H2S, that sent nine
residents to the hospital emergency room. IMAGE imgs/glb-wi9972.gif

MANISTEE -- Last October nine Manistee County residents were overcome by chemical fumes from an oil
storage installation and received emergency hospital treatment. Victims reported they suffered from nausea,
dizziness, shortness of breath, chest pains, numbness, and headaches. It is the second major accident in
Manistee County involving injuries to the public from oil industry operations in as many years.
Rick Henderson, the Department of Environmental Quality's district geologist in Cadillac, said a holding
tank filled with oil overflowed in Filer Township, releasing volatile "petroleum distillates" into the
atmosphere. The state ordered four oil wells owned by Denver-based Michigan Production Company to be
temporarily shut down while geologists and physicians from the state Department of Community Health
investigated the causes of the leak and the injuries.
Sudden Symptoms
Among the compounds that state physicians are studying as the cause of the illnesses is hydrogen sulfide
(H₂S). A byproduct of oil and gas drilling that is as poisonous as cyanide, H₂S is recognizable in trace
amounts by a distinctive rotten egg odor but at higher levels it deadens the sense of smell.
Rescue workers from Filer Township, who arrived at the scene soon after the leak was reported, measured
H₂S in the atmosphere at concentrations of five parts per million, enough to cause headaches and other
symptoms. But state physicians, who interviewed victims, said it was not clear which of the many chemicals
that evaporated from the leaked oil, including H₂S, caused the illnesses. The Health Department is completing
its report on the accident, which is expected to be made public early in 1999.
The most seriously injured was Larry DeRooy, whose home with his wife and two children is near the
holding tanks. He collapsed in his driveway before being taken to the hospital.
"At first it was a bad smell, and then I was light-headed and my chest started hurting real bad, and my legs
didn't feel like they were there," Mr. DeRooy told a reporter for the Ludington Daily News. "My tongue and
throat swelled up and it was hard to breathe. And my stomach, I was retching so hard but nothing was coming
up. It felt like my feet were going to come up."
The symptoms reported by residents are strikingly similar to those suffered by 11 people in Manistee
Township after an H₂S poisoning in the summer of 1996. Maintenance workers released a cloud of natural gas
containing high concentrations of H₂S, which then drifted into nearby homes and businesses.
~K.S.

Take Action
Citizens in Manistee and Mason counties have been
laboring for years to ban from their neighborhoods
industrial operations involving life-threatening H₂S.
State regulators have been slow to respond, saying
instead that tighter rules and procedures will prevent
serious accidents. Meanwhile, such accidents continue
to occur with alarming frequency. You can help by:
• Supporting citizens in Manistee County, 616-723-
9766 and Advocates for Intelligent Responsible
Environment (AIRE) in Mason County, 616-757-3790.
• Learning more about the issues by reading
previous articles published in the Great Lakes Bulletin.
To obtain a packet call Arlin Wasserman at the
Institute, 616-271-3683.
• Writing your state representatives and Governor
Engler, saying you want them to ban H₂S operations
where people live and work.

IMAGE imgs/glb-wi9973.gif



	Oil and Gas Project Poison Gas Continues to
	Menace Residents State Ignores Call to Remove Hazardous Operations from Neighborhoods Last October four oil wells in Filer Township including the one above were temporarily shut down while state investigators looked into an accident involving "strong fumes," possibly poisonous H2S, that sent nine residents to the hospital emergency room.
MANISTEE -- Last October nine Manistee County residents were overcome by chemical fumes from an oil storage installation and received emergency hospital treatment. Victims reported they suffered from nausea, dizziness, shortness of breath, chest pains, numbness, and headaches. It is the second major accident in Manistee County involving injuries to the public from oil industry operations in as many years. Rick Henderson, the Department of Environmental Quality's district geologist in Cadillac, said a holding tank filled with oil overflowed in Filer Township, releasing volatile "petroleum distillates" into the atmosphere. The state ordered four oil wells owned by Denver-based Michigan Production Company to be temporarily shut down while geologists and physicians from the state Department of Community Health investigated the causes of the leak and the injuries. Sudden Symptoms Among the compounds that state physicians are studying as the cause of the illnesses is hydrogen sulfide (H₂S). A byproduct of oil and gas drilling that is as poisonous as cyanide, H₂S is recognizable in trace amounts by a distinctive rotten egg odor but at higher levels it deadens the sense of smell. Rescue workers from Filer Township, who arrived at the scene soon after the leak was reported, measured H₂S in the atmosphere at concentrations of five parts per million, enough to cause headaches and other symptoms. But state physicians, who interviewed victims, said it was not clear which of the many chemicals that evaporated from the leaked oil, including H₂S, caused the illnesses. The Health Department is completing its report on the accident, which is expected to be made public early in 1999. The most seriously injured was Larry DeRooy, whose home with his wife and two children is near the holding tanks. He collapsed in his driveway before being taken to the hospital. "At first it was a bad smell, and then I was light-headed and my chest started hurting real bad, and my legs didn't feel like they were there," Mr. DeRooy told a reporter for the Ludington Daily News. "My tongue and throat swelled up and it was hard to breathe. And my stomach, I was retching so hard but nothing was coming up. It felt like my feet were going to come up." The symptoms reported by residents are strikingly similar to those suffered by 11 people in Manistee Township after an H₂S poisoning in the summer of 1996. Maintenance workers released a cloud of natural gas containing high concentrations of H₂S, which then drifted into nearby homes and businesses. ~K.S.
		Take Action Citizens in Manistee and Mason counties have been laboring for years to ban from their neighborhoods industrial operations involving life-threatening H₂S. State regulators have been slow to respond, saying instead that tighter rules and procedures will prevent serious accidents. Meanwhile, such accidents continue to occur with alarming frequency. You can help by: • Supporting citizens in Manistee County, 616-723- 9766 and Advocates for Intelligent Responsible Environment (AIRE) in Mason County, 616-757-3790. • Learning more about the issues by reading previous articles published in the Great Lakes Bulletin. To obtain a packet call Arlin Wasserman at the Institute, 616-271-3683. • Writing your state representatives and Governor Engler, saying you want them to ban H₂S operations where people live and work.