What's That Smell? It's Not Natural Gas, Utility Says

 received more than 400 calls Friday night from people complaining of an odor in the air similar to natural gas in Berkley, Huntington Woods, Ferndale, Pleasant Ridge and Royal Oak.

Spokeswoman Debra Dodd said the utility company believed the odor was coming from  located at 707 W. Lewiston near Nine Mile Road and Woodward Avenue in Ferndale. According to the company’s website, Polar "offers complete disposal and recycling of non-hazardous waste oil and wastewater at its Ferndale facility."

An answering service for Polar said the company began receiving calls at 7:45 p.m. and that plant managers met with representatives from Consumers Energy and corrected the problem at 8:45 p.m. The answering service did not have information on what caused the odor, only that it would dissipate over time.

“We don’t know what kind of odor it is, but we are confident it is not natural gas,” Dodd said. “We believe it’s a similar smell. Industrial-type smells often have an ‘oily’ odor.”

Ferndale Police said they consulted with Polar on Friday evening and plant management said there are no health concerns for the public.

Dodd said Consumers Energy planned to respond to all the reports it received even though officials were convinced the smell was coming from the Ferndale plant. A Consumers worker who checked on a home that had called in a concern near Woodward and Normandy in Royal Oak said even though it "really smells outside" he was not getting a reading for natural gas. He checked inside the home and the gas connection outside and reported no problems. 

Berkley Patch Facebook readers weighed in on the smell Friday night:

• Kim Valade Tarnopol: I just drove from (Huntington Woods) to Royal Oak and smelled it in both cities.
• Rachelle Vanover: I thought I had a leak in my house.
• Susan Warrow: I could smell it from the east side of HW all the (way to) Main (Street) in (Royal Oak), and as far north as 12 mile and Woodward.
• Sarah Ross: You can smell it all the way to 14/Coolidge. I thought we had a leak too – we called Consumers. And then when I read it here and we called to cancel, they said that by law they CAN'T cancel, and they had to place a SECOND call, so they're coming here twice tonight, lol.

Dodd said this was not the first time Consumers has responded to complaints about Polar.

“We want to educate the public. If anyone continues to smell a gas odor, they should call us and have us check it out,” she said.