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Action Editorial

How To Take Action On Long Beach's Latest "Mystery Stink"


On October 15 at 5:00 p.m., LBREPORT.com received a reply to this editorial from SCAQMD Exec. Officer Barry Wallerstein, D., Env. To view his reply, click here.


(Oct. 14, 2014, 9:15 a.m.) -- Last night (Oct. 13), starting in roughly the 6:00 p.m. hour and continuing for about 90 minutes, residents in and around downtown Long Beach and adjacent areas were exposed to another "mystery stink," an area odor of currently unknown origin and unknown chemical composition.

LBFD says nearly 50 people took the time to call them and LBFD deployed four units to try and find its source but couldn't do so. As of dawn today (Oct. 14) we don't yet know how many people called LB's Gas Dept or SCAMD to complain. We are aware of multiple reports visible on social media.

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Since this has happened multiple times before and received mainly shrugs from officialdom, we invite Long Beach residents to cut and paste the text below and email it to SCAQMD's Executive Officer, Barry Wallerstein (email address and instructions below.)

Dear Dr. Wallerstein:

The undersigned is a resident of Long Beach, CA, Los Angeles County's second largest city. Our city has repeatedly experienced "mystery stinks" (area odors) to which your agency has repeatedly responded by indicating the odor has dissipated by the time agency representatives arrived and could determine the odor's source(s) and chemical composition.

In late September 2014, SCAQMD issued a report on its response to a Port of Los Angeles fire. It indicates that "cannister samples" were collected by L.A. County Fire staff and delivered the next day to SCAQMD's lab where they were "screened and analyzed for a limited set of targeted species" and analyzed by GC/MS (gas chromatograph/mass spectometry.)

I request that SCAQMD invite community volunteers to accept collection cannisters (with SCAQMD instructions on collecting air samples) in areas historically affected, mainly along Long Beach's shoreline, near downtown Long Beach, and into Belmont Heights/Belmont Shore. These volunteers would be able to swiftly collect the air samples the next time an area odor occurs. I ask that SCAQMD analyze those results, report them publicly and pursue and report the source(s) of these repeated area odors.

I ask that this issue be agendized for the next SCAQMD Board meeting.

I also request under the CA Public Records Act (CA Gov't Code section 6250 et seq.) that SCAQMD inform me of any correspondence, communications or emails within the past 18 months from any management, staff or elected official(s) of City of Long Beach regarding area odors and SCAQMD's response(s), if any. If there are such documents, I request digitally scanned, emailed copies at no charge. Thank you.

What to do:

  • 1. In the email, provide your name and an email address but not your street address or telephone number. Your email to SCAQMD will become a public record.

  • 2. Please add LBREPORT.com as a :cc -- our address is mail@LBReport.com -- so we can keep track of how many LB residents follow-through on this.

  • 3. Email the text and cc: above to bwallerstein@aqmd.gov

Finally: pass it on. Tell your friends on Facebook about LBREPORT.com's action editorial. "Like" or "recommend" this page.


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