From: John Cuccia 

On Fri, 27 Dec 2002 18:03:52 -0600, Bill Lucy  wrote:

>Out of darkness, Geo. says...
>
>> > not that, maybe some of the chemical composition of some of those
>> materials.
>>
>> I've never worked in the industry but I know when they drill oil wells
>> around here they don't seem to be concerned about getting covered from head
>> to toe in whatever comes out of the hole.
>
>Neither did coal miners for a long time.
>
>I can imagine that arsenic and hydrogen sulfide would be two naturally
occurring
>substances in that muck.

Don't know about arsenic, but hydrogen sulfide does occur, but it is
somewhat uncommon in Gulf of Mexico oil and gas fields.  Where it does
occur, precautions are taken, e.g, workers at/on those facilities have to
be clean shaven to accomodate breathing apparatus.

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