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We don't know what's up with the crazy gas smell. The reports we've read had the location at 34th Street and 5th-7th-8th Avenues in Manhattan, but our readers are smelling it from the Upper West Side to downtown. WNBC reports that the smell is so strong on the 6th floor of 30 Rockefeller Center, "people are leaving the building." NY1 says the smell is strong around Herald Square and in NY1's neighborhood in Chelsea."
So far, Con Ed and the city's Office of Emergency Management are supposedly checking it out. There are also a lot of NYPD sirens - perhaps checking out the possible leak and trying to calm freaking-out New Yorkers?
We'll keep updating this story. Tell us where you're smelling it. Is it in Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island - or just Manhattan? And we thought all we'd have to deal with today was a case of the Mondays!
Update: ABC and Fox are reporting that the smell may have originated with a large gas leak at Bleecker and West 4th. But Fox is now saying the location may be at 7th and 13th, near St. Vincents. So things are still confused.
Update: ConEd is reporting no leaks anywhere in the system-- so it's a real mystery!
Update: a tipster called to say St. Vincents is being evacuated, and PATH trains are shut down into the city. So the smell is definitely strongest right now in the Village. Action seems to be centered at Bleecker and West 12th.
Update: Bloomberg is saying there was a gas leak on Bleecker and 6th, but much too small to be responsible for something like this. Various agencies are investigating, but the city's air quality sensors haven't picked up anything unusual. Now he's saying not to worry about it too much, but to open windows if the smell is particularly bad: "The one thing we are very confident of is that it's not dangerous."
A reporter asked how smelling gas is not dangerous. Mayor Bloomberg said that when gas enters the air, it "diversifies": "The amount of the chemical that you can smell is so minute... it's not dangerous." He adds that he didn't smell it at his home on the Upper East Side and didn't smell it at City Hall; also, all the PATH service is back to normal. OEM Commissioner Bruno says that there were 27 calls related to the gas smell, just people were feeling ill but no one was transported to the hospital.
Update: As the city says that the air is safe, it's not to late to enjoy how agencies are reacting. Reader Sacha Lecca sent us these great photographs of Con Ed testing the air and manholes in the West Village.
The news vans were on the scene, too, but it's hard for TV cameras to capture a gas leak when people aren't collapsing in the street (or dead birds on the street, as they are in Austin). Still, NY1's Roger Clark did a good job when he just said, "Uggh."
What kind of air monitor doodad is this? And where can we buy one, because the iron lung we've been looking into might take a while to ship.
Photographs by Sacha Lecca
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Oh that's what that smell on the #1 was-kinda burning rubbery from about 72nd to 23rd. It was particularly rank at 50th but then again, most corporate types work there so I figured it must be them.
smelled it this morning even way up where I am in washington heights. & the times square subway station reeked of it.
After dealing with a stalled F train at York St. and having to backtrack to Jay St. to take the A into Manhattan, I smelled it all the way to Times Sq. on the A train. Seems it's permeating the subway system too.
My office building just made an announcement about it.. they're "exhausting" the smell and luckily there's no trace of it inside the building anymore, but it's strong outside in Times Sq.
Oh thank god. I thought I was losing my mind. It's *very* strong around 53th and 7th.
Smelt it at Times Sq station this morning at 42nd and 8th. Was wondering what would be worse, a gas leak in downtown or having a stroke.
According to the management of my office building, the source of the smell was a gas leak on West 10th Street, and has now been fixed.
I have no idea how they know this. Hundreds of people are just standing outside the buildings on 6th Ave in the 40s/50s afraid to go in.
i noticed a strong smell of burning rubber this morning on the subway. i started noticing it around the rockefeller center stop on the F line and kept smelling it on the A/C/E downtown platform at W4th. i didnt notice it above ground though.
Smelled on the F train from about 14th or 23rd st up to Rockefeller Ctr. Very strong at 45th st and 6th ave
It's pretty strong at 53rd and 6th. Security in my building is freaking out.
i'm at 26th & 8th; our building was evacuated and now is open again. smell of gas remains, however. heard from maintenance guy it was a gas leak at 54th.
CNN had a breaking report about it also. Nobody knows what it is. The building where I work has closed any vents that would allow outside air into the building, as a precaution.
We are smelling it on 21st street and 7th ave.
Could just be a lot of buildings turning on their oil heat, we smelled gas in our apartment last night and determined it was most likely the heat coming on... we still slept with the window open though. :)
I can smell it, but not strongly, at 120th St & Riverside.
It's all over my building on w. 14th
i smelled it at 59th and Park. very strong.
We're smelling it up around the Met at 86th and 5th ave.
Definitely smelling it up here at 123rd & Riverside. Building mgmt just announced that they were putting the fans on overdrive, but it's stronger than it was while I was in the subway.
It's really strong in my apartment on Christopher & Bleeker. I haven't left yet, but I suppose it will be strong all over the neighborhood, if the theory that it's a leak on 10th is true.
Very strong at 57th & 7th, on the 40th floor and it's very strong.
Smells like a combination of tar, burning rubber and gas. It's smelling mighty tasty here at 27th and 5th. ugh.
Could smell it was down in the streets and subway stations by my office bldg. near Hudson and Houston. Security just made an announcement that the smell's gone and we can open our windows now. Lotsa sirens round here.
I work at 2 Penn Plaza, just over Penn Station, and I could smell it in the station and now in the building as well. It's pretty funky.
We're smelling it at the AllianceBernstein building on 55th and 6th. They told us it's some sort of "gas leak from outside" and that we're not supposed to worry. It's pretty strong here though.
On PLJ, which broadcasts from 2 Penn Plaza, they are saying its a gas leak in Jersey City that is blowing this way...
I smelled gas yesterday evening (UWS, 70th street)..not sure if is related.
I smelled it at the West 4th Street Station. It was fairly strong there, too.
smell is stong at 28th and 7th Ave.
our building is evacuated.
Just got a call: They are evacuating stores on 34th street off of Broadway. No smell at 2rd and Park Ave. South...
Very strong in our building on 110 Fifth Avenue (16th)
Is it better to stay inside with closed windows, or leave your apartment for an open space in these situations?
It's mind-numbingly bad on 21st street, between 6th and 7th.
Help!
I'm smelling it very strongly at Perry and Bleeker. Oh, I just heard on CNN that the leak is at 4th and Bleeker.
Just got a call: They are evacuating stores on 34th street off of Broadway. No smell at 23rd and Park Ave. South...
10th Street... maybe true. Was VERY strong on 11th btwen 6th/7th, and came up very fast... one minute nothing, the next very heavy. This was around 8:50 or so.
I'm in Jersey City NJ, and we can smell it here.
The gas smell is strong here in Jersey City.
Smells less like natural gas and more like gasoline, kinda like that smell when you're filling your car. Here at the Time & Life building (50th and 6th) we were evacuated, then we stood around on the sidewalk for a while, and then we were told to go back inside. You know, the typical meaningless movement that makes it look like someone's in charge and doing something.
NJ Transit email alert: "Due to a natural gas leak in lower Manhattan, NJT will cross-honor PATH 33rd St. Line customers at Newark, Secaucus and NY Penn."
I have just been informed that the gas smell has disappreaded from Rock Center, but they still don't know where is came from. Still smellling it though ;(
Strong smell on 43/44th floors of 30 Rockefeller Center.
Really strong at 9.10am when i got out of the subway at 23rd on the R and all around Madison Square Park.
It's all over Chelsea. I walked to work from Ninth Avenue and 23rd Street to Fifth Avenue and 17th Street, and it never let up. It is also permeating my offices. It's making me sick.
I'm on 50th and 6th and the smell is pretty bad. Friends everywhere smell it East to West. It's also in jersey; mayor says its nothing but who can trust that... pretty scary.
Stinks in 47th & Park. Got word that there's a gas leak at the 39th street Con Ed plant.
building in midtown:
The FDNY has confirmed a gas leak at 39th Street between 5th and 6th Avenues. Crews have been dispatched to repair the problem. Property Operations has instructed all building managers to shut down external air intakes.
There is no cause for concern and no need to evacuate any of the Firm's buildings at this time. We will keep all employees updated as we receive additional information.
the government is recommending duct tape for the windows...
It was incredibly strong when I got off the D train at Bryant Park around 9am.
We can smell it on East 53rd - our fire warden announced, "um, we're lookin' into it."
I work at 111 Eighth Ave (~15 St) and we were told that the smell is coming from NJ (it seems the moniker of it being the armpit of America is more justified than ever)... Our building security is not freaking out and we have not evacuated into the street... Why would anyone think that helps anyways?
57th Street Station F Line is very strong as soon as you get off the train. The smeel seemed to let up as I left the station.
I didn't smell anything at 57/Lex this morning around 8. Haven't been outside since then, though.
Perhaps I shouldve skipped Taco Bell Last night.
Sorry guys.
Came out of the V train stop at 5th Ave and 53rd St and was greeted by VERY strong natural gas smell at 9:15 am this morning.
Our building manager just stopped by and claimed it's coming from 35th and Bway...(we're at 31st and 6th)
smelled ity on 36th between 9th & 10th. thought i was losing it - big crowds outside their buildings all along 34th.
I didn't notice it at all this morning on the train and I don't smell it now on the 14th floor of 10 Rock Center...My window's not airtight, either. No one in my office can smell it.
this happened a few years ago and then it was a tanker carrying the "smell" that is added to gas for safety - t-butyl mercaptan
could be the same this time
It was nauseatingly strong around 9:15 in and around my workplace, which is on the corner of Hudson and West Houston streets, and the high school on Clarkson Street was briefly evacuated. It now seems to be dissipating slightly.
does anyone have any duct tape I can borrow?
please?
Well, it ate my first comment but...
I didn't notice it at all this morning, and still don't smell it (inside) at 10 Rock Center (14th floor). No one here can smell anything.
The smell is strong as hell down here at FIT on 27th and 7th. Its nauseating on the street and the smell lingers like a fog in the hallways at work.
No evacuation here yet.
It was really strong in the underground tunnel between the L train and the Red Line at 6th ave.
I am at 50th and B'way, we just got am email saying that: gas leak has been detected around the midtown area; we have temporarily shut down our supply fans to prevent the gas from entering the building.
The high school on 33rd and Park has been evacuated, though outside the smell is weak. Present, but weak.
downtown austin is closed because of a gas killing birds and sickening police:
http://austinist.com/archives/2007/01/08/breaking_downtown_shutdown_dead_birds_sick_cops.php
my office in hudson square reeks.
hmm.. i'm on 53rd and lexington andi cant smell nothing
Is anyone else getting really sleeeepy?
They stopped my path train at Chrisopher St and made us all get out. Didn't really smell it until I got to work at 28th & Madison, where's it's really strong in the elvator shafts.
Why is it that people that work and live on the street can't spell it: Bleecker.
Also, the olfactory sense is the only one that dulls with sensory adaptation. The people closest to the source are probably just getting used to the scent, even if it's growing stronger/spreading.
We smelled it in the cafeteria in Jersey City, NJ right across the river from the World Financial Center.
I'm inside a building on 60th and West End, and it can be smelled in some parts of the building, but not in others (it seems to be worse on higher floors).
i smelt it in greenpoint at 8 this morning. smelt like diesel exhaust from a truck, except that it was throughout the neighborhood
when i got to my building's lobby this morning in Jersey City, still half asleep, I woke up with a start b/c the lobby reeked of gas. I immediately called the management company. Then I got to the PATH station at Grove St., and no trains were running to 33rd, though I was able to get a train to WTC. then as soon as i entered my work bldg. near 57th and bway, i smelled gas again.
i can smell it here on 56th street and madison ave..and it's actually pretty strong.. =(
perhaps he who smelt it, dealt it? oh.. no, actually that would be all of us. my bad.
Um, there's no indication that "a gas" is responsible for the situation in Austin. Don't be sensational.
i smelled it as soon as I came out of the F station on 23rd and 6th ave. The smell is also strong in my builing on 7th ave, between 28th and 29th street.
really strong at 8th & 14th street subway station near the uptown A around 9 am.
Update: I was just outside my building on the corner of West Houston and Hudson streets, and the smell seems to be gone. It's still lingering inside the building.
I don't understand why people are pointing fingers at Manhattan as the source of the smell. The wind isn't blowing in a direction that the smell could come from anywhere but New Jersey.
I'm being told by the bldg management that there's a leak in a building somewhere on 53rd near Madison...but I don't know how much I believe it because there seems to be conflicting reports from every direction.
Can smell it at the Empire State Building. The building annouced it was outside, not here. I read Macy's was evacuated. Most things I'm reading now says it came from Jersey City. I have coworkers who work in at 911 HQ in Brooklyn, they were all but overwhelmed by calls reporting it.
hey mica, i'm at 50th and bway too. are you cute. just kidding. i don't smell anything. i didn't on the way to work either, except for a few seconds on the train, but i thought that was the homeless kid walking through. seriously...
Pretty prevalent around 48th St/9th Ave. I thought is was inside our building. Is it wrong to feel a little relieved that it's not my basement?
maybe terrorists are testing our air flows again.
The lack of any idea about what is causing this is extremely alarming.
What if this was something that really sickened people? Or caused people to go into respiratory distress or arrest?
The response should be more than shrugged shoulders.
Strong at 10 AM at 33rd St. between Park and Madison. --It wafted up the elevator shafts from outside; we could smell it on the 10th and 11th floors of our office.
Fainter now, but still detectable. No doubt the fog is keeping the smell in the air and dispersing it over a wider area than usual.
Our building management now reports that the West 10th Street thing has been unconfirmed.
News reports about the smell being from the West Village appear to be citing Jersey City officials.
Got off the R train at time square and it hit me immediately. Very strong at 40th and Broadway...my eyes are watering sitting in my 9th floor office!!
It takes some real wit and courage to rag on New Jersey. Now that most old New Yorkers live in NJ, what do we have left - transplants from Ohio getting in on the game?
OMG WHAT COLOR IS THE TERROR ALERT TODAY!! SOMEBODY QUICK TELL ME
Walked out of my building at 34th bet. 9th and 10th and it was so strong I asked if the oil truck had spilled that morning when filling our tanks. currently at the office 57 /7th 3th floor and it spells putrid here.
OMG what color is the terror alert today!! Somebody tell me
maybe it is the terrorists testing our air flows again, like with the maple syrup smell.
1010 WINS is reporting gas can be spelled in Weehawken and that PATH trains to WTC are still operating normally.
I blame it on jersey
The mayor is saying there is absolutely nothing to worry about.
Bloomberg is holding a press conference about it right now. http://www.nyc.gov/html/om/html/blue2_live3.asx
I smelled it at 78th and 2nd and here at work 27th anbd Bway
I don't smell anything.
It sounds an awful lot like the PATH has something to do with this. Most reports are coming either from areas along the PATH or from areas along subways that connect directly with the PATH.
NYC Office of Emergency Management told our building's fire wardens that it's a leak "in the Battery area" so, southern tip of the city.
"I blame it on jersey"
Ditto
There have been sirens all morning in JC - must be trying to find the smell too over here.
i couldn't smell at thing in turtle bay this morning, and there's nothing at battery park, either.
Damn. Didn't smell the maple syrup smell last year and sure didn't smell any gas this morning. I'm at 33rd and Lex.
it's probably the smell of investment bankers simply being themselves.
Strong at 10 AM on 33rd Street bet. Park Ave. South and Madison. It seems to have wafted up the elevator shafts here since it was strongest around the elevator lobbies and could be smelled up on the 10th and 11th floors of our office.
Still detectable now, though not as strong --or are we just getting used to it?
No doubt the fog and low cloud cover is keeping whatever-this-is in the air longer than usual and dispersing it over a wider area.
I hear lots of sirens outside, and from all directions.
I smelled it this morning on the 2nd Avenue subway. And then again when I got to work at Chemical Bank. Now I'm going to get on my unicorn and ride home, but first I'm going to stop at Tower Records and pick up that new CD from Journey.
bloomberg says the smell is not related to the minor leak at bleecker and w. 4th.
DUDE - i was down at 19th/10th ave and i just thought it smelled like DURIAN FRUIT all morning
what's durian fruit? here's an idea:
http://tinyurl.com/yguzwj
I head that it's that gas that turns people inside out. That crazy gas...
I work in the GM building on 59th and 5th. I was here at 7am and the smell of gas, particuliarly on my floor was pungent... Didn't realize this was a city-wide thing... I also have heard it's in Ne Jersey... If it's in the Battery area how does that work with a
west to east jet stream?
The fire / security people in my building announced over the loudspeaker that the mayor doesn't know the cause of the odor and that natural gas sensors around the city haven't detected anything. Make of that what you will.
Had to leave the building for a while at 7th and 50th - very strong inside the building, but nothing really bad outside. They "turned off the outside air" on our ventilation system and the building is much better...
Its all part of a government conspiracy to use a mind control aerosol to turn the great, mold-breaking citizens of New York into sheep. Don't breath.
okay. won't inhal.
Yeah, don't breath and don't light a match...
The odor was caused by this David Cross routine.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=hR46ZaYSRbk
anyone ever notice that 9 times out of 10 when something f-ed up happens in nyc - con ed is somehow related to it!
I blame Bush.
And Jersey.
When I got into the office on 47th and 5th at 9:30 this morning I didn't notice anything at all, but when I left the building at about 10:30 to get some coffee I was hit with it as soon as I walked out the door. Within a minute or so it was dulled, but my co-worker just came in and said he could still smell it outside.
According to WCBS, Mayor Bloomberg said, "We are waiting for the gas to pass."
I smelled it this morning at 18th and Broadway, and up until a half hour ago. It must have been pretty strong outside because my windows were closed and the smell still got in.
I agree, it smelled like Durian fruit on the subway today.
I am on 3rd Avenue between 41st and 42nd streets and the smell is strong here, very much so by Grand Central Terminal. I'm in the office and the air is thick enough with it to make my eyes itch and burn and give me a righteous headache that comes and goes. I'm lightheaded. The building crew tells me that some people have already been taken out by ambulances in this very building because of the sickening odor, so don't tell me that the smell is "harmless" or "no big deal"!!
as for me i think it smells pretty neat, makes me very calm & all youppl need 2 chillax and just let it happen like it's supposed to and flow ... its hapening for a reason
Homeland Security diversion on the day of Bush's troop increase announcement.
seems silly if you want to go out and light a cigarette. like in zoolander.
I smelled it clear as a spring day 9 am at 95th and 3rd.
Nicole, look up "hypochrondia" and get back to us.
smellorism
Say what you will Jonas Cord but I'm telling you something's not right!! For all I know we could all be subjects of some sort of an experiment but that doesn't make my eyes burn any less! I know what I smell and it's not comforting to see that no one can really pinpoint where it's coming from, either!
Fuckin GIULIANI!!! Oh wait.
In seriousness, I don't smell it at 145th & Bway. (I do hear helicopters overhead.)
I wish everybody fast recovery from the nausea (it may help you to drink [non-ice-cold] water, unless you know you're already well-hydrated).
Damn, 135 comments?
I smelled it in Grand Central this morning...
Yes, maple syrup is way better. I actually wrote a song about the maple syrup occurrences called "The Land of Aunt Jemima" (I write and perform funny songs about NYC-related stuff).
Could be a mercaptan leak - plenty of chem plants around the area. That's the only thing that would explain the facts - no gas detected by all the sensors, no explosion despite what would have to be a huge volume of gas to produce this wide area of impact, and no change in flow according to ConEd.
nicole, seriously calm down... it's people like you that make other people panic (no offense).
once i was on metro north from gct to ct and smoke filled our car. a woman COMPLETELY panicked, lost her s-it and started screaming and crying and tearing the rubber off the windows to escape via the window. keep in mind we were *in the tunnel* between gct and 125th at the time. so opening the windows was the dumbest thing to do. especially considering the cars are steel and the somewhat fire resistant. all we needed to do was move to the next car. but no.
when we got to 125th we ALL had to get off the train, they had take the train out of service and back the train into gct. and the conductor screamed at her for being a complete dumbass. if there was a fire, she would have caused massive injuries with her freaking out.
point is: get the facts and then think calmly about them. it does no one any good to go running around like a headless chicken.
Well I'm in cobble hill and noticed a smell of gas about an hour ago and just found this info. So I guess the smell has spread to brooklyn.
Uh, Jonas, I looked up "hypochrondia" but it's not in the dictionary.
The smell was really stron in my office on 25th street when I got to work today. I got pretty nervous and felt it best to head back home to brooklyn.
Well, I guess there is at least one good reason to live and work in the Bronx, but only one: no gassy smell up here. I'm sure the smell of the Waste Factory will cover anything else up, too.
A funny comment over at The Lede Blog at the NYT:
It could just be the scent of the Giants and Jets returning home.
— Posted by Tom
Could someone be using Mercaptan as a poor man's aerosol dispersion model of Manhattan for future sinister purposes? after all every section of Manhattan is reporting the results in the media!!
The smell was bad at the 53rd/5th Avenue E train stop at 9 this morning, and my office on the 40th floor of Park Avenue Plaza (52nd between Madison and Park) was really bad also.
Since then, it seems to have dissapated, but I haven't been outside yet.
You know... gas is artifically odorified to smell like sulfur. And if there isn't a gas leak big enough to cause this, maybe it's a sulfur leak. A nice seismic sulfur leak. Get ready for Volcano: Manhattan! We're all gonna burn!!
just heard on fox news that it's all hillary's fault.
You know... gas is artifically odorified to smell like sulfur. And if there isn't a gas leak big enough to cause this, maybe it's a sulfur leak. A nice seismic sulfur leak. Get ready for Volcano: Manhattan! We're all gonna burn!!
It's not sulfur, it's a chemical called methyl mercaptan that is added to odorless gases to aid in leak detection.
smells "like" sulfur... not "is" sulfur
oh captain! mercaptan!
as for the maple smell, maybe this?
http://en.allexperts.com/e/s/so/sotolon.htm
apparently mercaptan is also a very potent smell
i hope that the city starts telling us what is going on here. an entire city can't just smell smells and the nobody explains why?
"It's not sulfur, it's a chemical called methyl mercaptan that is added to odorless gases to aid in leak detection."
Well it sure isn't helping anyone detect it this time. Why is that? I think there's a strong possibility this "odor" is coming from deep within the earth.
as for the maple smell, maybe this?
http://en.allexperts.com/e/s/so/sotolon.htm
apparently mercaptan is also a very potent smell
i hope that the city starts telling us what is going on here. an entire city can't just smell smells and the nobody explains why?
Ha, Margie, how do you spell it? I can't remember at all... I blame all these fumes ;-)
I was being a little mean, but seriously, smells can make you feel sick for no good reason. Think of a food that you ate that maybe was bad and made you throw up. Next time you smell it, you feel nauseated.
http://208.223.216.204/gtsgas/msds/msdata/MGI14620.pdf
Nicole, your symptoms of Mercaptan exposure are consistent with the chemical. My advice to you would be to find a less toxic location.
Obviously the concentrations of Mercaptan are low, but still strong-smelling. While it's not as strongly toxic a gas as some, it's not harmless either.
I find it odd that everyone's so blasé about a major release of toxic gas.
Don't panic though. Nothing's worse than that.
The scariest part about this situation is that the NYC, whith everything its been through over the past few years, cant figure this out. Thats what worries me. I think they will wait till after work is over today to tell anything, so that it doesnt cause a panic.
I think it is coming from the car import area off the NJ Turnpike at interchange 14. There are big stacks that bellow out large quanties off steam.
Please check them out.
"an entire city can't just smell smells and the nobody explains why?"
government is not omniscient nor omnipotent. it just likes to pretend to be.
it was stanky up in midtown. and whole train ride up on 6th ave line from downtown people were sniffing it.
saw this happen too outside
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oESfW_1Crqk
Just because something is blowing off "large quantities of steam" doesn't mean it's a toxic emission. In fact, toxic air emissions usually are accompanied by no steam or smoke at all. Steam emissions usually mean there is a large boiler at work.
Reeked at Times Square subway stop when the doors opened; nothing of note at 21st and 5th.
I love all the doomsday people, keep panicking and entertain me on an otherwise slow Monday!
All safe????....even if mercaptan was released somewhere....the possibility exists that it {mercaptan} could be used as a vector to disperse any varity of toxic agents...the source must be located and soon!!
Quick! Someone call CTU and get Jack Bauer on the scene!
Uh... out in Austin, Tx, 60 birds just upped and died... Tx officials are trying to figure out what's up.
maybe this has something to do with it?
http://urbandispersion.pnl.gov/news.stm
Weird... 60 birds in Austin, TX have mysteriously died. Yikes!
Now you can all rest assured that if some evil organisation of terrorists is using this to map the flow of "gas" through the city for some future diabolical attack, your posts have given them lots of lovely data with which to plot and plan. Job well done, kids.
Is it possible that the smell is coming from the LNG plants in the new jersey harbor? LNG is liquified natural gas, very flammable and very explosive. Those plants are an ideal terroist target. I know about the location of at least one plant in New jersey because in the 1970's i was involved in preventing the location of such a plant on an earthquake fault in nevada. We were always concerned about the vulnerability of the plants in populous areas.
It is a huge fart, I think Al Sharpton made it. He said today that while he isn't sure what the smell is, he would like to involve himself in everything everywhere whether or not it is his business so he claimed responsibility for a Fart that has made the city stink.
Just kidding Al, don't Sue me
Hey--know what's weird? Mercaptan's toxic. READ THIS:
http://208.223.216.204/gtsgas/msds/msdata/MGI14620.pdf
What do you think?
This morning when i was taking NJtransit into penn station i smelled something horrible outside of secaucus.. i assumed it was just jersey.. maybe it has something to do with this. It was rank. I had to smell my hair to avoid the small(i am really sensetive to smells) i am also really congested and it was really potent.
Whiskey bottles, and brand new cars
Oak tree you're in my way
There's too much coke and too much smoke
Look what's going on inside you
Ooooh that smell
Can't you smell that smell
Ooooh that smell
The smell of death surrounds you
Federal testing of dispersal? No information to local officals? Paranoid much??!?
did they figure out where the smell was coming from and why it happened?
Fart Joke!
On my way to work tday, around 9:15am, I smelled gas in the N train, and also at Times Square station. In the train at first I thought the shady looking guy sitting next to me was passing gas, so I gave him this "What the ****" look. I guess I owe him an apology.
I work in Union City NJ. We smelled the order-it was very strong!
I've lived in Manhattan all of my 42 years and I don't ever remember strange smells (besides garbage on a hot day) permeating The City like that cake/chocolate smell did or this gas smell. Too weird!
I have such terrible allergies from all this global warming, I can't smell a damn thing!
that is a VRAE, a portable 5-gas detector manufactured by Rae Systems Inc in california. i used to work at the company, so i recognized the yellow boot. you can find more info (and order online) at their website: www.http://www.raesystems.com/
MSDSs are worthless and aren't worth the paper they're printed on. Go to fishersci.com, search for sodium chloride, and read that MSDS. Then look up the one for sea sand.
Besides, the odor threshold for t-butyl mercaptan is far below its OSHA permissible exposure limit, that's why it's been determined to be safe enough to use as the odorant for natural gas. Do you really think the gas company could pipe a toxic chemical to all of its millions of customers without being sued over and over again?! Get a grip.
I have to agree with dwhite... as crazy as it sounds, this seems like a it could have been a covert urban dispersion experiment. Between today's occurance, the Staten Island odor this summer and the maple syrup smell in 2005, there have been a number of strange odors in the city that were apparently not dangerous but that summoned emergency responders to look for gases and tested the reporting that would occur during the incident. And all three times all the government workers looking for the source found nothing and, in the first two at least, just let it go as soon as it faded from the headlines.
Today the mayor was able to very confidently say that they didn't know what the smell was but that it wasn't dangerous. That seems overly confident in a post-9/11 NYC, unless he had reason to be so confident. I wouldn't be surprised if the same team that did the publicized dispersion tests came out and said they had been doing these as well to test government and public reaction.
But I don't like to talk like a conspiracy theorist, because this sounds nutty... so prove me wrong, please.
Ramona's right. Someone could be tracking the odor as a test. The worse may be yet to come. Now they know how we react and how far its reach is. That it happened during the morning rush hour is adding to the worry.
I have to agree with dwhite... as crazy as it sounds, this seems like a it could have been a covert urban dispersion experiment. Between today's occurance, the Staten Island odor this summer and the maple syrup smell in 2005, there have been a number of strange odors in the city that were apparently not dangerous but that summoned emergency responders to look for gases and tested the reporting that would occur during the incident. And all three times all the government workers looking for the source found nothing and, in the first two at least, just let it go as soon as it faded from the headlines.
Today the mayor was able to very confidently say that they didn't know what the smell was but that it wasn't dangerous. That seems overly confident in a post-9/11 NYC, unless he had reason to be so confident. I wouldn't be surprised if the same team that did the publicized dispersion tests came out and said they had been doing these as well to test government and public reaction.
But I don't like to talk like a conspiracy theorist, because this sounds nutty... so prove me wrong, please.
I have to agree with dwhite... as crazy as it sounds, this seems like a it could have been a covert urban dispersion experiment. Between today's occurance, the Staten Island odor this summer and the maple syrup smell in 2005, there have been a number of strange odors in the city that were apparently not dangerous but that summoned emergency responders to look for gases and tested the reporting that would occur during the incident. And all three times all the government workers looking for the source found nothing and, in the first two at least, just let it go as soon as it faded from the headlines.
Today the mayor was able to very confidently say that they didn't know what the smell was but that it wasn't dangerous. That seems overly confident in a post-9/11 NYC, unless he had reason to be so confident. I wouldn't be surprised if the same team that did the publicized dispersion tests came out and said they had been doing these as well to test government and public reaction.
But I don't like to talk like a conspiracy theorist, because this sounds nutty... so prove me wrong, please.
i would tend agree with Will above. the only way to test for a non-odourless nerve gas terror attack would be to release a VERY smelly non-toxic gas. the other alternative explanation is that it really was a leak of mercaptan and because of the weird weather (72 degrees - what the f**k? in winter???) that it lingered around and couldnt disperse.
I didn't smell any gas but I did smell maple syrup
around 143rd st and 8th ave up in Harlem.
I noticed the smell around 7:00 pm and when I left
the area around 2:00am it still smelled.
isn't it weird that they mystery smells seem to only have started popping up post 9-11? just saying...
Well, I had so much to drink the night before (Russian Orthodox Christmas & my wife's birth day on the same day) I could not smell anything. But the guy in a cube next to me, who had been exposed to the smell since 8:50 in the morning, developed headache by 11:00. And we were on 28th floor at 32nd and 7 avenue...