This morning, I learned the answer behind the smell of gas that has been hanging over Athens the last 24 hours.
Heavy gas odor prompted the Athens Post Office to close for about an hour Monday morning and there have been reports of gas flooding into City Hall and the police department since then, city officials said.
Apparently the gas has been over odorized, sort of like a middle school boy who gets into his dad’s Old Spice before his first school dance. This is causing normal operations, such as lighting pilot lights, to have a much heavier smell than normal.
The extra odor should start to dissipate in about two days, I am told.
Adding an odor to gas is a safety procedure to allow humans to recognize leaks and goes back to the late 1800s.
— Michael V. Hannigan