Another "Mystery Stink": Sunday Area Odor Affects Peninsula/Eastern Belmont Shore And Inland Northeastward Toward CSULB

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(Oct. 13, 2015, 8:10 p.m.) -- On Sunday afternoon (Oct. 18), residents in a wide swath from eastern Belmont Shore/Naples/The Peninsula extending inland northeastward toward the CSULB area, experienced another of LB's periodic "mystery stinks" -- an area odor of unknown chemical composition and source, variously described by residents as a foul "gas like" smell.

In the 3 p.m. hour, residents began reporting to us what one reader described as an "awful, gas like" smell in the area of 65th Place and Ocean Blvd. Another resident told the LongBeachCalif Facebook page (time indicated in roughly 4 p.m. hour) "very strong odor on the peninsula...Smells sulfuric, chemical odor" and it was reported to SCAQMD.

LB's Gas/Oil Dept. emergency line indicates the source wasn't from LB Gas/Oil lines and it received about 15 calls from (time approximate) about 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

LBREPORT.com has learned -- but not officially confirmed at this point -- that (as in previous incidents) SCAQMD sent an inspector to the area...and (as in previous incidents) the inspector was unable to determine the chemical composition or source of the odor...and (as in previous incidents) the inspector may have arrived after the odor had dissipated.

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Sunday's (Oct. 18) "mystery stink" is the the latest area odor to periodically affect LB's coastal neighborhoods, usually from east of downtown, Alamitos Heights, Belmont Heights into Belmont Shore, and sometimes extending inland a couple of miles. Sunday's odor was apparently most intensely experienced to the east along the Peninsula and northeastward. Residents typically describe the smell as intense and a sulphurous/petroleum/gas type odor.

A little over a month ago, a foul odor was reported on the afternoon of Sept. 14, 2015. It was preceded a little over two weeks earlier on Aug. 31, 2015 by a "mystery stink" that extended from shoreline areas well into parts of southerly ELB.

After LBREPORT.com reported a fairly intense "mystery stink" had occurred on October 13, 2014 (following similar incidents in 2013 and 2012), SCAQMD scheduled a November 18, 2014 town hall type meeting (at the Golden Sails Hotel in the area affected) devoted to discussing the matter. The meeting, which was well organized by SCAQMD, was lightly attended due in part to a conflicting community meeting of SE LB area interest. At the meeting, SCAQMD reps provided information, urged residents to report area odors and took public testimony.

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SCAQMD, which is the regional government agency responsible for protecting public health from air pollutants, acknowledged it is sometimes challenging to capture real-time air samples in such circumstances. At the meeting, at least one resident volunteered to do so for the agency (using an agency air sample collection device) and there was some extemporaneous discussion about the possibility of doing so. We don't know at this point if SCAQMD followed up and implemented such a system, or did anything else, to provide a more rapid and air-sample-capture system that might help the agency learn the chemical composition of what LB residents (adults and children) were breathing...and might help pinpoint its source(s).