Another SE LB / Belmont Shore Area "Mystery Stink," Not Natural Gas Says LB Gas & Oil; Hear Audio Of What We Heard When We Called AQMD

(June 29, 2013, 8:25 a.m.) -- Today (Sat. June 29) before dawn, the southeast Long Beach and Belmont Shore areas experienced another "mystery stink" -- an area odor caused by something from somewhere and NOT natural gas, says Long Beach Gas & Oil.

LBREPORT.com received a reader report describing the experience of their family before dawn (below)...and Long Beach Gas & Oil acknowledges in a recorded message (monitored by us in the 7 a.m. hour) having received a "high volume of calls" regarding an area odor in the Belmont Shore, Park Estates and College Park areas.

"The odor has been investigated by Long Beach Gas and Oil and is not natural gas" says LB Gas & Oil's recorded message.

An LBREPORT.com reader emailed us (thank you) with this information: "My family awoke this morning at around 5 am feeling lightheaded and noticing the smell of a very pungent gas leak type odor...When we went outside, it was clear the odor was throughout our neighborhood, it was strong, and it was not leaving."

This is the latest "mystery stink" experienced by residents in southeast Long Beach. LBREPORT.com is interested in knowing if you smelled it and roughly where you are (large intersections) and about what time.

Long Beach City Hall's recorded response this morning was to contact the South Coast Air Quality Management District at 1-800 288-7664. On its website, the agency says this about itself:

"AQMD is the air pollution control agency for all of Orange County and the urban portions of Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, the smoggiest region of the U.S. We are committed to protecting the health of residents, while remaining sensitive to businesses."

To hear what we heard when we followed City Hall's advice and called SCAQMD at roughly 7:45 a.m. (June 29), click here. (As you will hear, we called them twice without success to speak with live person.)

This is the latest in area SE Long Beach / Belmont Shore area "mystery stinks." As previously reported by LBREPORT.com:

On Oct. 25, 2012, residents of the Belmont Shore/ELB area odor variously reported an odor similar to rotten eggs or natural gas. The South Coast Air Quality Management District said it it received roughly 105 calls clustered mainly in Belmont Shore and areas slightly inland [into ELB], agency spokesman Sam Atwood told LBReport.com.

At that time, SCAQMD sent five inspectors to try to find the sourc of the odors [information not immediately available on whether they came from Diamond Bar HQ or SCAQMD's Long Beach regional office]. The inspectors confirmed some rotten egg and natural gas type odors and were looking at three ships moored off of one of the oil islands as potential source. However by the time they arrived, there were no longer any odors detectable and at that point the inspectors weren't able to track down a source.

On September 18, 2011, a number of LBREPORT.com readers in SE and Eastern Long Beach reported smelling a strong odor, described as a natural gas type smell, from the 1 p.m. hour into at least the 3 p.m. hour. At that time, AQMD spokesman Sam Atwood said the agency sent an inspector but "by the time she arrived the smell was gone.

Further to follow on this on LBREPORT.com. .