LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. — Residents in one part of Lancaster County have been reporting an odd odor over the past few days.
According to the Columbia Borough Fire Department, there was an increase in 911 calls Tuesday evening into Wednesday. People called about what they believed was the "smell of a gas leak in the areas of Columbia Borough and towards Lancaster City," according to a Facebook post by the fire department.
The fire department and members of Hazmat 2 Environmental Fire Rescue investigated the smell. It was determined to be from a small spill of methyl mercaptan, a chemical that gas companies add to methane gas to make it detectable by scent.
The spill happened at Sahd Metal Recycling on Lancaster Avenue in Columbia. FOX43 spoke with the recycling center's owner, who says they were sent material by a vendor that should not have been in the load, and the material spilled. The smell originated from the methyl mercaptan which was inside of a pipe.
That vendor is Texas Eastern, a gas transmission company owned by Enbridge. A spokesperson for Texas Eastern released the following statement:
"On the evening of December 3rd, approximately one cup of mercaptan, an additive used to odorize natural gas, was released at a third-party location while processing materials from our Marietta facility. Texas Eastern has removed any affected soil for proper disposal. At no time was there a safety risk to our neighbors or the community. We appreciate the response and coordination with Columbia Borough Fire Department and Lancaster County HAZMAT."
After a site evaluation, first responders determine no immediate hazard to the public.
The fire department says while the responsible parties have completed clean up at the site, the odor may linger for some time.
According to the fire department, methyl mercaptan has an odor threshold of "1ppb (part per billion)." That means it can be smelled even if one part of it is in one billion parts of air. It's "incredibly potent—kind of like noticing a drop of something in a swimming pool."