They have the right to know right now what they're exposed to.
So just getting that information to people is the first thing.
They have the right to know.
They should be told what the content of the VOCs is in the different locations.
They should be provided with a map of the monitoring stations.
The individual person can make a decision based on having the information available and having
basic education about what ranges are safe.
How many hours can you stay there if it's at a certain level?
We put a monitor like this on every boat and teach them how to use the monitor.
At this point, every fisherman is being trained.
This is part of environmental training.
It should be part of it.
Not just trained on how to lay boon, but how to protect themselves, how to wear proper
PPE, protective gear, how to read these monitors.
This is very easy.
This is a handheld.
Anybody who can use a cell phone can learn how to use these.
I've been part of a movement, I call it the People's Environmental Center movement, the
democratization of science and bringing science directly to people.
And that's what the NRDC has been doing.
Gina and I have been working together on this for a while, just like lawyers provide pro
bono services to people.
Engineers and scientists want to have a way to provide, if necessary, pro bono services
directly to people.
That's why I'm on this boat right now.
That's why Gina's here.
We're not getting paid.
But there needs to be places to convene where communities and scientists and engineers can
come together in solidarity around issues like this.
I would recommend that we set up sampling on all of the fishing boats, with VOC monitors,
with remote sensors that are going to be sending those readings back to a computer, a central
computer, so we can understand what the fishermen are exposed to.
At this point, we're going to go back with the readings we just took and calculate how
many hours, based on the OSHA standard, someone would be able to breathe that amount.
What we're measuring is the definite byproduct of hydrocarbon of oil, of an oil slick.
There's an unknown when it comes to what's in the dispersants.
I'm worried with both the short and the long-term impact of the dispersants.
We don't know what it is.
Instead of having a prevention principle where we find out that it's safe and then apply
it, we're just applying it, and we'll learn, unfortunately, what those effects are later.
