When New York City Stinks, Blame New Jersey

The Big Apple Mystery of the Week: Why did NYC have bad CO (city odor) of natural gas with mercaptan yesterday? The malodorous bouquet freaked out people from all over Manhattan (even parts of Brooklyn) and parts of eastern New Jersey. The city's various agencies determined it was not a terrorist attack and that the odor was "not dangerous." So most of the blame fell to our neighbor, New Jersey.

The city's Department of Environmental Protection said they were "pretty sure it came from New Jersey." DEP spokesman Charles Sturcken said, "The way we tracked the dispersion of the smell and the prevailing winds indicates that it came from New Jersey, somewhere near Secaucus." The NJ Office of Emergency Management confirmed to the Post that the hypothesis of an odor traveling from the NJ swamp land to the noses of not just Garden State resident but New Yorkers as well was within "the realm of possibility." Still, there's no clear conclusion to put this mystery to bed.

Yesterday morning was disrupted for some. People were nauseous; PATH train service was suspended at 34th Street, Macy's evacuated its employees while other office workers voluntarily left their buildings, and residents worried that their buildings had gas leaks. Con Ed explained, "There are no abnormal changes in the gas flow in our gas transmission system. If there was a big leak, we would see a change in the gas flow." Heh, gas flow. But imagine all the kids (big and small) who will now be using the new "The city was so smelly I got sick" excuse!

And mercaptan, my captain, is a chemical added to natural gas to give it an odor so it can be detected. Mercaptan is also created when things naturally decay - and naturally occurs in nuts and cheese. That actually explains a lot.

Gothamist on the maple syrup smell mystery.

Photograph of the empty PATH station at 34th Street by Pete Morgan/AP; photograph of Con Ed workers testing a manhole in Greenwich Village by Sacha Lecca

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in News on January 9, 2007 11:17 AM

Comments [rss]

Megan

Yes, James. It is possible and you make a very good point that "these citywide odors [could be] probes by people who are planning a gas attack against the city to gauge responsiveness". Is there any way to get the larger corporate media to investigate this? Sadly, we probably won't get much accomplished by posting back and forth.

Megan

Yes, James. It is possible and you make a very good point that "these citywide odors [could be] probes by people who are plaining a gas attack against the city to gauge responsiveness". Is there any way to get the larger corporate media to investigate this? We probably won't do much posting back and forth.

MAK

Good point, James. I wouldn't be surprised if these were "probes by people who are planning a gas attack against the city to gauge responsiveness", and clearly 'Ben' and 'Angry' agree. Can anyone get this to the media so they can do an investigative report? I doubt our typing back and forth will make much of a difference.

Angry

"As you can see, even tho your idea should really be considered and evaluated, no one here gives a shit. Which is why NYC is such an easy target."

Precisely. NYC: a Ship of Fools.

Ben Dover

"Is it possible these citywide odors (Mapple Syrup/Mercaptan) are probes by people who are plaining a gas attack against the city to gauge responsiveness? Most chemical agents have distinct smells, I believe Sarin smells like Almonds for instance. It would be a reasonable preperatory step to release smells and then see in what manner and how rapidly the city responds to reports of such an occurence. No?"

Interesting comment.

As you can see, even tho your idea should really be considered and evaluated, no one here gives a shit. Which is why NYC is such an easy target.

RDuffy

People were nauseous nauseated.

rt

I'd point the finger at Staten Island...or maybe God thought it be funny to fart on Manhattan...just for shits & giggles

awerr44r4

Ahaha, Tim N., you're a douchebag. I remember someone posting your website as an example of complete and utter asshattery.

smitty

I just want to say that I take credit for being the first with the mercaptan my captan joke - see the comments of yesterday's post.

Questions & Answers

I live in Jersey and trust me: the smell was NOT coming from our side of the Hudson River.

Tim N.

Mercaptan, my captain. Cute, Jen.

And of course it didn't stink in Secaucus... all the stench blew across the river.

James

Is it possible these citywide odors (Mapple Syrup/Mercaptan) are probes by people who are plaining a gas attack against the city to gauge responsiveness? Most chemical agents have distinct smells, I believe Sarin smells like Almonds for instance. It would be a reasonable preperatory step to release smells and then see in what manner and how rapidly the city responds to reports of such an occurence. No?

James

Is it possible these citywide odors (Mapple Syrup/Mercaptan) are probes by people who are plaining a gas attack against the city to gauge responsiveness? Most chemical agents have distinct smells, I believe Sarin smells like Almonds for instance. It would be a reasonable preperatory step to release smells and then see in what manner and how rapidly the city responds to reports of such an occurence. No?

robin.g

Suuure blame NJ for everything! The Garden Scapegoat. feh.

FearMonger

I still (irrationally) believe it's volcano.

45y5y

New Jersey = landfill!! ahahaha. Good times.

Anyway, I was working in Secaucus that morning and nobody smelled anything. This place can stink pretty badly during the summer, but that day I remember missing not being in the city to experience the odor.