'That Stuff Can Get You So Fast' - Deadly Gas on the Rise in Oil Fields

"ODESSA, Texas -- Elaine Beadle initially thought the odor creeping into her home on this city's west side was a sewer leak.

It started about the time she moved in four years ago -- a smell like rotten eggs. Sometimes it got so bad her eyes burned.

She soon learned the real source: a tank battery that collects oil and gas from wells scattered throughout the vacant land and small homes near the intersection of University Drive and Loop 338.

The gas in the tank battery contains more than 300 times the lethal level of hydrogen sulfide, a common byproduct of oil production in West Texas."

Mike Lee reports for EnergyWire October 21, 2014.