The Marathon Oil Refinery Is Letting Off A Foul Smell

METRO DETROIT -- Residents are smelling a foul odor produced by metro Detroit's Marathon oil refinery, but the factory says it's not harmful.

Marathon said the smell came from a malfunctioning flare. The odor is from mercaptan, which is a chemical used to make natural gas smell like rotten eggs. That makes is easily detectable. Marathon said it will take days to get the flare shut down and properly repaired, according to reports. The company says the air is not harmful. .

The Detroit City Council plans to discuss the smell at their next meeting on Tuesday, WDIV reported.

Here is a statement from Marathon on Sunday:

"Marathon Petroleum has implemented processes at its Detroit refinery to stop a release from a flare that is not functioning properly. These processes have significantly reduced the amount of material flowing to the flare since this morning.

In order to conduct repairs to the flare, we are also removing the contents of various vessels connected to the flare. We are conducting this work as safely and as quickly as possible, and we anticipate completion by the end of the day tomorrow, Feb. 4. Although there has been an odor from the release, our ongoing air monitoring has not detected dangerous levels of any substances. We believe the odor is largely from mercaptan, a substance added to natural gas to give it a detectable smell. We will continue to conduct air monitoring on a constant basis in nearby communities as a precaution, and are making our air-monitoring data available to regulatory and emergency response agencies.

We apologize for the inconvenience to the community, and we are conducting a thorough investigation to determine what caused this release. Once determined, will implement the necessary corrective actions so that this does not happen again."

Image by Jessica Strachan