Missing asbestos needs tracking down

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

This letter appeared in the Advocate (Baton Rouge, Louisiana) on 19 January 1990.

This item may be cited as M. R. Franks, Letter to the Editor: Missing asbestos needs tracking down, Baton Rouge Advocate, Januaryt 19, 1990, at 9B.

Dear Editor:

The question that should be asked and is not being asked is: Where did all the asbestos go? No public agency is investigating the volume of asbestos lost in Exxon's recent refinery explosion -- a quantity which can be calculated simply: multiply the thickness of the asbestos lining by the surface area of the tanks involved. This is a simple function of their circumferences and heights. From this we should subtract the asbestos accounted for -- the few chunks recovered in some cases miles from the site of the blowout.

What remains is the volume of asbestos unaccounted for. We know the missing asbestos wasn't consumed in the flames -- asbestos is not flammable. Our best conclusion is that it went airborne as microscopic particles. Just how high and on whose doorstep did the prevailing wind carry and deposit this carcinogenic Christmas gift? Aircraft landing at Ryan Airport on the day of the blowout reported the black cloud extended from a base at 1,800 feet above ground level to a top at over 6,000 feet.

The people of Louisiana are entitled to better than just Exxon's investigation of itself. We are entitled to a full investigation by a public agency that will not whitewash over the missing layers of toxic asbestos.

M. R. Franks
Brumfield & Brumfield, attorneys
509 St. Louis St.
P.O. Box 91200
Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70821-9200

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