gas leakz

*Some reports claim the smell was "first" reported in Weehawken and Jersey City, New Jersey before reaching Manhattan.

**NJ Path Train service has been suspended between 33rd St. and Journal Square.

***Numerous buildings have been evacuated. Also, the 23rd St. subway platforms (not the trains) in Chelsea have been evacuated.

UPDATE: Mayor Pignataro, spokesperson for the Jersey City mayor's office, claims the smell originated from the Greenwich Village area of Manhattan near West 4th and Bleecker. No other sources have confirmed this report.

UPDATE: Con Ed and PSE&G confirm that they have no gas leaks reported in their systems.

Mayor Bloomberg is scheduled to hold a press conference addressing the mattter momentarily.

Austin, TX

Sick Police officers and dead birds have propmted officials to close a section of Congress Avenue downtown.

A large section of Congress Avenue- from Cesar Chavez north to 11th Street-is closed this morning. And people who work downtown along Congress Avenue and nearby are being asked to stay home at least for a little while. The Austin Fire Department responded after two Police officers reported feeling ill in the Congress Avenue area. Mike Frick is a battalion chief for the Austin Fire Department.

“Congress Avenue is closed from 1st to Eleventh street and then one block on either side of Congress. That’s while the Fire Department is checking to see if there is a chemical or some other substance that may be in that area that may have made a couple of APD officers sick this morning.”

Public Safety officials are urging people to stay away from the downtown Austin area until the cause of the officers’ illness is determined. No word on how long Congress may be closed- but it could be as late as noon.

it's terrorists!

(pls note I am completely joking.)

Methanethiol is released from decaying organic matter in marshes and is present in the natural gas of certain regions in the United States, in coal tar, and in some crude oils.

In surface seawater, methanethiol is the primary breakdown product of the algal metabolite dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP). Marine bacteria appear to obtain most of their protein sulfur by the breakdown of DMSP and incorporation of methanethiol, despite the fact that methanethiol is present in seawater at much lower concentrations than sulfate (~0.3 nM vs. 28 mM). Bacteria in oxic and anoxic environments can also convert methanethiol to dimethyl sulfide (DMS), although most DMS in surface seawater is produced by a separate pathway. Both DMS and methanethiol can be used by certain microbes as substrates for methanogenesis in some anoxic sediments.

Methanethiol is a weak acid, with a pKa of ~10.4. This acidic property makes it reactive with dissolved metals in aqueous solutions. The environmental chemistry of these interactions in seawater or fresh water environments such as lakes has yet to be fully investigated.

The United States material safety data sheet (MSDS) lists methanethiol as a colorless, flammable, gas with an extremely strong and repulsive smell. At very high concentrations it is highly toxic and affects the central nervous system. Its penetrating odor provides warning at dangerous concentrations.

Typical.

ATTENTION, PEOPLE OF NEW YORK CITY. THIS IS LISA JACKSON, NEW JERSEY STATE COMMISSIONER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION! CEASE AND DESIST IMMEDIATELY IN ALL ALLEGATIONS AND IMPUTATIONS AGAINST US, OR FACE FURTHER CONSEQUENCES! ALSO, CAN YOU TELL ME HOW TO GET TO GREENWICH VILLAGE?