(PRICHARD, Ala.) - Mobile Gas Service submitted its report Wednesday to the Alabama Department of Environmental Management detailing their on-going investigation and mitigation of the foul odor in Eight Mile.
A spokesperson for ADEM told Local 15 News Thursday they are currently reviewing the 884 page report, completed in partnership with McFadden Engineering Inc.
A spokesperson for Mobile Gas Service told Local 15 News in a statement that the report "describes the work Mobile Gas has performed to date on the Reed property and the Cochran Road right-of-way in Eight Mile."
Though the company maintains the source of the butyl-mercaptan smell remains unknown, they said, "The odor mitigation system Mobile Gas installed in October 2012 on the Reed property has been very successful in alleviating the odor."
The report indicates that, since odor-killing machinery was installed in October, the concentration of the butyl-mercapatan odor fell by half, from 1.0 mg/L to .46 mg/L on January 16, 2013. The highest level of the chemical was found in June 2012 at more than 4.0 mg/L.
But Severia Campbell-Morris of the United Concerned Citizens of Prichard said the smell is still there, and spreading.
"It's a gassy smell, and it's a breath-taking smell," Campbell-Morris said. "The same smell that they're smelling in Eight Mile now we're beginning to smell it East Prichard."
City of Prichard District 1 Councilman Lorenzo Martin said his constituents in Eight Mile said the smell is getting even more unbearable.
"We were hoping that an end is in sight, but, as of right now, as of today, we're continually smelling the bad odor in Eight Mile," Martin said.
Martin said he was invited by ADEM to discuss the problem on Tuesday in Montgomery.
Mobile Gas said in the statement that one of the roadblocks in their on-going investigation is a piece of property owned by Gulf South that they want to investigate. They said, they don't have access to it.
