I have worried for months that hurricanes could deposit toxic chemicals from crude oil and dispersants inland.
A geochemist from East Carolina University, Siddhartha Mitra, was awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation to study the issue.
Unfortunately, as Dr. Mitra told National Geographic, toxic chemicals from both the oil and the Corexit might in fact be carried inland by a hurricane:
In July, Marine toxicologist Dr. Ricki Ott and senior EPA analyst Hugh Kaufman both said that Gulf coastal communities should be evacuated. I assume that they would both say that the risk is substantially reduced, and that evacuations are no longer necessary. I will talk to both, and report back on their responses.
