Death Records Now

This is in regards to a recent incident in Texas City that took place between April 6 2010 – May 16 2010 in which BP admits(as an estimate) to releasing 538,000 lbs of chemicals (17,000 lbs of benzene, 37,000 lbs of nitrogen oxides, 186,000 lbs of carbon monoxide) due to a failing component in their Texas City plant, that they chose to not shut down due to production losses that would be incurred. The galveston daily news originally reported this on June 5, 2010 with little public attention being paid to it. I recently read, in a small local San Leon publication (San Leon Seabreeze), a follow up article to this which claims the effects of this chemical release were far greater than BP is acknowledging. The publication went as far as to say that people will start developing cancer in 1-2 years, and that there will be a large death toll. From a legal standpoint, would you have to be ill and dying before you could take legal action on this? How would something like emotional distress figure into this? If they were releasing chemicals in the air and I was unaware at the time, I now feel as though I could be breathing dangerous chemicals at any given moment. Not to mention their horrible safety record, and the 2005 explosion that took place in Texas City. Anyone got some legal advice?

First, it sounds like irresponsible journalism and fear mongering…

Second, you have to be damaged before you can take legal action. The question is, when are you damaged? At this point, you don’t even know if you were exposed to the chemicals, much less whether you have been damaged by them. Once you have been damaged, your claim becomes ripe and can be brought.

I know this might be kind of strange or pathetic to some people, but I’m scared to death of flying on airplanes. I have to at least three times a year for family trips, but I just get more and more scared every time. I know that it’s the safest form of transportation and everything, but I still can’t get over the idea of a crash and dying. Also, my mom has to go away on buisness a lot and evertime she’s gone I freak out and make her call me right before and right after and I check her flight online… that may sound really weird but I’m so frightened I’m going to lose someone to that. Do you guys have any ideas or tips that will make flying less scary for me? I’m going on a plane to hawaii for spring break in a month. I’m going on Hawaiian airlines and they have a perfect safety record… but I"m just so nervous. Any tips or advice to help me?

As crazy as it sounds, one thing to do is put yourself in that position. For example, if you’re afraid of a roller coaster, how do you break the fear? Avoiding it? No, repetition. Believe it or not, your mind can train itself to not be afraid. Mind over matter. If you want to have help with your repetition in breaking your fear, take some relaxing prescribed medication, listen to music, eat your favorite handy snack. And just relax. Take deep breaths. Look out the window every once in a while, and know that soon you will be at your destination having a good time. And eventually, flying will be like nature.