"MARSHALL, Mich. -- An acrid stench had already enveloped John LaForge's five-bedroom house when he opened the door just after 6 a.m. on July 26, 2010. By the time the building contractor hurried the few feet to the refuge of his Dodge Ram pickup, his throat was stinging and his head was throbbing."
"LaForge was at work excavating a basement when his wife called a couple of hours later. The odor had become even more sickening, Lorraine told him. And a fire truck was parked in front of their house, where Talmadge Creek rippled toward the Kalamazoo River.
LaForge headed home. By the time he arrived, the stink was so intense that he could barely keep his breakfast down."
Elizabeth McGowan and Lisa Song report a multipart feature series for InsideClimate News June 26-29, 2012.
Part 1 (June 26): "Inside The Biggest Oil Spill You've Never Heard Of"
Part 2 (June 27)
Part 3 (June 28)
"Timeline: How the Dilbit Disaster Unfolded" (June 26)
"A Dilbit Primer: How It's Different from Conventional Oil" (June 26, 2012)
Epilogue (June 29): "Cleanup, Consequences and Lives Changed in the Dilbit Disaster"
SEE ALSO:
"Kalamazoo River Reopens, 23 Months after Spill, But Submerged Oil Remains" (June 21)
"Koch Brothers' Activism Protects Their 50-Year Stake in Canadian Heavy Oils" (InsideClimate News, May 10, 2012)
"Exclusive Interview: Why Tar Sands Oil Is More Polluting and Why It Matters" (InsideClimate News, May 22, 2012)
