Am I in danger - hazmat environmental people nearby?

Clean Harbors is a firm that mostly slops up oil leaks and discharges. Maybe a tank s[prung a leak. Itll make great garden soil in a few years

I have seen these people throughout the past 3 years since parking here. At least I can't be worse off than the condos or apartments on across this area.

I assume that these days, if you were in danger you would be evacuated.

Right....I believe that the government is working in my best interest....right.

I get the sarcasm, Linkat, but I don't think it is appropriate. Why wouldn't you sincerely trust that the government is working in your best interest?

The government has slowly been raising your life expectancy, while giving you fantastically clean water and monitoring food for safety and making sure the things you buy won't kill you.

You can come up with a couple of cases here and there... but overall the government has done a fantastic job by any measure.

Human life expectancy used to be 40 year. Now it has about doubled. Child mortality has been cut in half. Death by faulty products or food poisonings (which used to kill thousands each year) have been cut to almost zero.

I don't know why you think the government would put you at risk and not tell you. Given the record of the government in the past 50 years, I don't think this fear is at all reasonable. Given the facts of how well the government has done, you might call such a fear "paranoia".

Sounds like they were using something which absorbs up something else. Like a sponge. Oil and related substances can be absorbed through the pores hence hazmat gear usually used during cleanups. But if you can't smell anything, you're probably ok. If it were an airborne risk you'd have heard about it.

If you can show me a single example in the past 50 years where people in hazmat suits meant that people who weren't being evacuated were in imminent danger, then I will change my mind.

I don't think there are any examples of this.

The hazmat gear is worn for much the same reason dental assistants physically leave the room during an x-ray where the patient just gets a lead vest. The patient's only getting a smal amount of radiation. But the assistant is around the radiation multiple times every week so would get a vastly larger dose over time.

Same with hazmat gear. A passerby might be exposed to something harmful in larger doses, but in small casual exposure doses negligible. But because cleanup crews are around it all the time, they need the protection.