And so it begins. Forecasters had predicted that the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico — five times worse than originally thought — wouldn't reach the Louisiana coast until Friday. But 20 mph winds have pushed the petroleum slick inland much faster than anticipated and, though CNN reports that as of Thursday afternoon the oil mass is still "three of four miles" from the mouth of the Mississippi River, residents of New Orleans are already under an olfactory assault that may be caused by the spill.
The Times-Picayune reports that the city has been overwhelmed by a "pungent smell" and that, though they can't confirm the odor's source, officials believe the spill is the most likely culprit.
"We're still trying to confirm that," Deano Bonano, the Orleans Parish emergency-preparedness director, told the paper. "Whatever it is, it's coming from south of us, and we have to assume it's the oil spill." Bonano added that he's received calls reporting the odor from all parts of the area.
The White House announced today that it was taking a more active role in trying to contain the burgeoning ecological disaster. At a briefing, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano labeled the accident "a spill of national significance." Governor Bobby Jindal also declared a state of emergency in Louisiana.
Meanwhile, New Orleans residents are understandably annoyed over their city being enveloped by the smell of fuel. Mandie Landry, an attorney who works in the city's Central Business District, told Yahoo! News that "it smells like it'd smell if a bus was in front of you blowing out exhaust fumes right in your face." Another local resident, Tulane University employee Laura Mogg, told us that she caught wind of the "terrible" and "gag-inducing" smell from her office building on the school's sprawling uptown campus. "I smelled it the second I opened the door," she said. "Really, it's that strong."
