BILOXI, Miss., - The Mississippi National Guard found no abnormal readings after it completed monitoring the air quality at 20 different locations along the coastline in Harrison, Hancock and Jackson Counties as part of its regularly scheduled testing last week.
The Jackson-based 47th Civil Support Team’s weekly assessment comes on the heels of media reports that air in some places along the Gulf Coast poses a health risk to vulnerable people in connection with the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
To date, no hazards have been discovered, said Lt. Col. Stephen McCraney, deputy director of Task Force Vigilant Horizon, which is overseeing the Mississippi National Guard’s response. Last month, a team was sent to Hancock County to investigate a foul odor that was reported, but it was not attributed to the oil spill.
McCraney said his team will continue to independently monitor the air with no end date in mind.
“We are here for the long run,” McCraney said. “We were here before anyone came, and we’ll be here after everyone leaves because it’s a home game to us.”
With about $3.8 million of equipment, the CST has been regularly conducting tests along the beaches since April 30 and sending them to local emergency operation centers and the state Department of Environmental Quality and Department of Marine Resources, which are the lead agencies spearheading the Mississippi response since the oil spill.
The U.S Environmental Protection Agency says recent air sampling shows a moderate health risk in Venice and Grand Isle, two Louisiana towns about 50 miles from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill site.