From what I understand that’s one of a number of trains that are run without a human. Supposedly that’s safe…. doesn’t look too safe.While I am writing… I would like to ask the neighborhood if they have been noticing some really bad odors over the last three days or so. They take place at night and south south east wind. The smell is like hot metal and chemicals.. I have reached out to other neighbors in North Admiral and they could smell it as well. Any of you smelling that? So please write into the blog.. also I urge you to report it to Puget Sound Clean Air at this address(online) http://www.pscleanair.org…. please try to report it while it is taking place. Even if you don’t know the source letting them know this really horrible order is widespread. It’s important.. It’s obviously toxic…. please note the wind direction which you can easily see from a simple Google search or anything blowing in the wind by your house. It’s really really strong and widespread with a South…. south east wind.. thank you for your help
I often smell that while cycling over the lower bridge. Pretty sure it’s from the concrete forges along the river there. They are not supposed to burn old tires anymore but…?
The BNSF West Seattle switch job is not a remote control train. Neither is Nucor’s internal plant switch job. Both are crewed trains.
I’m near the Homestead on Alki and haven’t smelled anything there or on my morning walks to Duwamish Head. As far as the train a call to Burlington would provide an answer as to their use of remote control trains.
Yep, Nucor Steel. If you live primarily West or South of the plant, the prevailing winds obscure the smell. But when the winds change – definitely noticeable in those areas.
I have smelled this many, many times. I believe it is from Nucor, and the aroma is caused by rapidly cooling super hot steel with water. Not what I would call a pleasant smell, but I am near certain it is not harmful in any way. Speaking of aroma, I also can smell the paper mill near Olympia/Tacoma from time to time. That one is even more unpleasant, but again not considered harmful in any way at this distance.
I don’t think it would be Nucor. I think they use electric forges, not burning fuels. It is usually steam that is coming off of the building. I don’t work for Nucor, just studied them while doing port area air pollution for my masters. It has been a few years though.
The melting and cooling of the steel has its own smells, independent of the fuel used to power the forge. Metal just smells, lol
As someone that has actually taken the time to go on the free weekly tour that Nucor offers, your lack of knowledge is clear. As Bill states, they use electric forges, they’re not burning anything. The vast majority of the plant that you see whizzing by on the bridge is their vapor filtration systems. They also don’t “flash” water cool the the billets either. Take the tour and be educated. It’s free, they show you everything, and you can freely talk with the operators. They have the highest state EPA rating a business can get. And the person claiming they can smell the pulp mills from Tacoma, give me a break. That’s 45 miles south of WS. Assuming the smell moved north, you’re claiming it wouldn’t dissipate. Also, the “aroma” is known to move south from the plant, not north. I can say that with confidence because I lived in Parkland for 5 years and regularly experienced the aroma.
I know what I smell WS Rick. Admittedly, it may be the wastewater treatment plant in West Renton instead of the paper mill, but the smells are very, very similar. I also know the smell of water cooled steel.
I really wish the West Seattle Blog would have a stricter and/or more prominent commenting policy to reduce personal attacks and insults toward other WS community members. This comment by WS Rick starts by disparaging another person’s intelligence, although the rest of the comment provides a really helpful perspective. Does the personal attack add anything useful to this comment? No. The LifeHacker site has this at the beginning of their comment sections: “Have fun. Be respectful. Feel free to criticize ideas, but not people. Lifehacker has a strict commenting policy.” Let’s not be jerks and trolls to each other WS!
I am sorry I did not think my response all the way through. I was only thinking about toxic outputs and not about how the smell would effect those in the area. The smells don’t seem to reach out to the end of the peninsula, there is always some kind of breeze here. Now the sounds and smell of two and four wheel cruising, racing and revving, different story.
Hello again…. thank you West Seattle folks for your input regarding the odor. I have actually lived to decades and so I’m familiar with what a common smell from Nucor is like. This is different. Also, it seems to be taking place at night.(interesting isn’t it?) Please be alert to Air Quality. Please report to http://www.pscleanair.org…. I would like to add that you are correct that multiple cement plants bordering the Duwamish river are often polluting the air but this is something else. No matter what please report any visible emissions… or odor so we can be more safe. Thank you.
There’s only one cement plant along the Duwamish and that’s Ashgrove. LaFarge shut down their kiln and cement production something like 12 years ago and the only bag it or perform other environmental operations(like pressing water out of spoils dredged from the river) or grinding other minerals for agricultural applications.There are a few concrete batch plants (where they actually mix the concrete but not heat anything), a calcium carbonate plant, a cardboard/box plant, a bottle plant, a sheetrock plant and a few aggregate yards. Oh, and the shipyard.To say that these facilities are polluting the air is probably inaccurate, at least systemically. The Duwamish Industrial Zone is pretty carefully monitored and have to pass emissions testing annually. These are the products that are used everyday. Your walls and homes are made with these products, your cars, roads, etc. That they’re made as cleanly as they are is a credit to Seattle’s and Washington’s regulation. I’ve travelled all over the country working in industrial facilities and I can attest to the fact that this level of environmental stewardship is not widely practiced because it’s expensive.As for folks that live in industrial regions, such as close to Nucor, which has had more and more housing built around it that, say Ashgrove, you chose to live near or in an industrial zone. With that comes noise and smells. IF you weren’t aware of those things when you moved nearby then that’s on you.
You know now that we are discussing this every once in a while I think I might get a whiff of the south Seattle transfer station. That place can get pretty darn ranky (if that is a word). Been there recently and it was normal, stinky but normal. The mixture of rotting clean green and normal stinky garbage can really get strong and during a calm humid day that scent can extend.
I’m 100% sure that it’s not the garbage dump. I drive by there frequently when I use 509 and I know that smell exactly. That is not the smell. I’m asking people to be alert to air quality and report stinky air to http://www.pscleanair.org…. It‘s something new and it takes place at night with the south southeast wind. I wonder if it was the low bridge repair that has been taking place.? Anybody have any thoughts on that? Meanwhile, please, please report Air Quality issues…. thank you
The train car was derailed by Westsidegirl and commenters ;-)
Sorry, comment time is over.
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