COUNTYWIDE : Calls About Noxious Smell Flood Utility

Gas company repair crews have been working overtime the last two days, as nearly 1,000 customers who smelled noxious odors reported possible gas leaks, a gas company spokeswoman said Wednesday.

But instead of detecting leaking gas, the customers were smelling an excessive amount of a harmless but foul-smelling chemical that is routinely added to odorless natural gas to help detect leaks.

Somehow, too much mercaptan was injected into a pipeline carrying natural gas from Texas at a facility in either Blythe or Needles, said Marcia Secord, a spokeswoman for the Southern California Gas Co.

“It’s the smell we all know and love,” Secord said about the malodorous additive. When the gas reached the area, the extra mercaptan irritated noses across Ventura County.

By Tuesday morning, customers in the Ventura and Simi Valley areas began to light up the gas company’s switchboard, fearful that the strong odor signaled a leak. Secord said the company received 515 calls from the Ventura area by Wednesday afternoon and 402 calls from Simi Valley.

“The smell was so horrible that people were afraid it was poisonous,” Secord said.

Because the company could not risk ignoring any leak, repair crews were dispatched to each report of a possible leak. Despite working overtime, the crews faced a backlog of 50 complaints by Wednesday afternoon, Secord said.

After discovering the cause behind the flood of repair calls, the company began diluting the supply of tainted gas with gas from other areas, she said. Secord estimated that the problem would be resolved by today.