more articles like this

Goleta Stench
updated: Oct 24, 2012, 9:11 AM

By Edhat Subscriber

What is going on with the Scent of Beelzebub out here in Goleta? The stench of sulphur is so strong it almost knocked me off my feet near the corner of Los Carneros & Hollister. We caught whiffs of it yesterday, but today it is overpowering. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

Comments in order of when they were received | (reverse order)

COMMENT 335037	2012-10-24 09:25 AM
I believe it's coming from the ocean.
COMMENT 335041	2012-10-24 09:30 AM
The smell from the bird refuge is migrating north.
COMMENT 335042	2012-10-24 09:30 AM
170 Los Carneros Wy , Goleta *** Gas Leak Outside *** 34433204 *** - 119853499 Not sure if it is related. I can smell it just north of the deckers construction site inside our building.
COMMENT 335043	2012-10-24 09:31 AM
Are you sure it was sulphur not sewer gas you smelled? We do live over a seismically active area rich in hydrocarbons and sulphur gases are common. The problem with hydrogen sulfide is that it's not harmful when you can smell it but at higher concentrations you can't and that's when it's deadly. Seriously hydrogen sulfide, a byproduct of oil exploration and production, is a major concern here.... ever notice the sirens along the Gaviota coast? On the other hand sewer gas also smells like hydrogen sulfide, you know the smell of rotten eggs.
COMMENT 335044	2012-10-24 09:31 AM
That's the earthquake early warning system. Duck and cover.
COMMENT 335053P	2012-10-24 09:40 AM
Whatever you do DON'T light a match.....
COMMENT 335058	2012-10-24 09:48 AM
Sulphur. The airport and all the Storke housing is built on a salt marsh, that's why they have so many issues with mold in their houses. At one time, when the waters were high, you used to be able to ride your small boat (aka goleta) from Goleta beach to the Ellwood shores via the slough. I think it was in the 1920s that the army came in and took the island that used to exist in the goleta slough and shoveled it into the marshland for a landing strip. Lotsa Chumash bones.
COMMENT 335067P	2012-10-24 09:58 AM
Although not an R supporter - I "negative"d that comment because I dislike them whether they are for/against either side.
ROGER DODGER	2012-10-24 10:07 AM
Sorry it's my colone.
COMMENT 335085P	2012-10-24 10:10 AM
I remember how hard Raytheon tried to keep the old Building 5 level, at the end of Robin Hill. No matter what was pumped under that building it just kept sinking. Finally it became a parking lot.
COMMENT 335106	2012-10-24 10:26 AM
Oh know I got deleted!! please review my comment under the deleted comments section...thanks!
COMMENT 335119	2012-10-24 10:44 AM
I live out in Winchester Canyon and we smell that about once a month in the evening. It's TERRIBLE! One neighbor said it was a desalinization plant up the coast.
COMMENT 335122	2012-10-24 10:46 AM
Sulphur!!!!!!!!!! Marshland!!!!! Goleta Slough!!! Somebody move the airport! And really, Deckers? It's probably Deckers' construction.
COMMENT 335144	2012-10-24 11:17 AM
It's not the beach. I jumped in the ocean first thing this morning and the smell was coming from over by LaGoleta, one of the houses up there. Those people smell.
COMMENT 335146P	2012-10-24 11:20 AM
@119, I live near Winchester Canyon. It may be the watering of some of the ag fields just west of the canyon. They use reclaimed water.
COMMENT 335159	2012-10-24 11:41 AM
The desal plant has not operated since the 1990s and it's on Yanonali Street, not up the coast.
COMMENT 335190	2012-10-24 12:28 PM
Sometimes there's and awful stench that whaffs from the avocado orchard on Glen Annie x Cathedral Oaks. They get truck loads of raw mulch (or maybe it's manure) and just let it "cure" on their property. You can smell it all the way to the shopping center. Not sure if that's the problem today, but I know it has been in the past.
COMMENT 335228	2012-10-24 01:26 PM
It's Goleta - ghetto fabulous in all it's glory - it's just part of the charm that keeps me living here.
COMMENT 335261	2012-10-24 02:11 PM
I love it. That and dead kelp / rotting sealion + ocean salt. Whenever i leave town on business or vacation, the moment i step off the plane I smell the Goleta Slough and usually a rotting carcass - its literally a taste of heaven. Im being 100% honest with this statement, its one of my most calming scents - I'll be truly sad should I ever relocate to a place away from the central coast shore. Love it.
COMMENT 335456	2012-10-25 07:31 AM
261- That and the petroliferous odors of the Monterey Formation. Home sweet home!
COMMENT 335488	2012-10-25 08:49 AM
058 - Thanks for the historical info. When I move I will keep this in mind. I keep on learning from Edhatters!
COMMENT 335514	2012-10-25 10:10 AM
it's worse today!! we can even smell it in our building...............
COMMENT 335565	2012-10-25 12:59 PM
@335085P Raytheon is going to be out next week taking samples of that parking lot to prove that whatever they pumped there is gone so they can finally get off the hook for it.
COMMENT 335576	2012-10-25 01:31 PM
Salt Marsh
CANDLE LADY	2012-10-25 04:43 PM
I smelled rotten eggs when I drove past on my scooter. I think it is the sewer pipes and/or bird refuge. Eeeeeeewwwwww...

24% of comments on this page were made by Edhat Community Members.

*** One comment was removed from this thread by the Edhat Board Nanny for violating Edhat Comments Board policy. Click Here to see it.