The Pink Elephant

[SXSW]

I've been to Seattle when the fish smell literally coated the whole city. Made me actually want to get back on the plane.

Tacoma is notorious for its "aroma" due to paper mills.  Paper mills smell terrible, thankfully the closest ones to us are down in SE Oklahoma/SW Arkansas (Valliant, Ashdown). 

I know Norman around OU at times smells awful depending on the wind direction due to the wastewater treatment plant at Hwy 9 & Jenkins.  Similar to the smell that sometimes emanates from the plant on the west bank of the river by I-44.

[RecycleMichael]

There are smells that come from the west bank and travel over the river. They seem to bounce over the park and then land about two blocks in on the east bank.

The smells come from many sources. There are two refineries, a hazardous waste injection well, a plant burning trash, a hazardous waste processing company, and assorted heavy manufacturing. There is also a highway and a railroad that often carry hazardous waste.

The sulphur (rotten egg) smell is from the refineries. The others, (the ones that sit down and have a drink with you) come from other places.

It comes and goes.

[Hoss]

Wichatitty has got some stank in it toooo...!!!!!!

Yuck.  "A sewer runs through it".  How do you justify an open drainage ditch all along the length of I-135.  And you think our section of the Arkansas stinks?  How about that stench going over it in Wichita?

[Breadburner]

Yuck.  "A sewer runs through it".  How do you justify an open drainage ditch all along the length of I-135.  And you think our section of the Arkansas stinks?  How about that stench going over it in Wichita?

Big stinky ditch....hah....

[Conan71]

I work 1/4 mile south of the Sinclair refinery and about 3/4 of a mile from the sewage treatment plant.  I work out quite a bit in the River Parks area.  The smell is negligible even riding past the treatment plants on the west bank.  The smell there is similar to damp lint from your washing machine.

The "ditch" in Wichita FAIK is strictly storm drainage.  I'd think the EPA would have had a big kitten already if they had open sewage flowing through a major city.

[custosnox]

Makes me think of Ron White's bit on growing up next to a paper plant.

[DolfanBob]

Ok guy's. A little slow here. Help me out with the Pink Elephant title.

Back in the 80s I remember that West Tulsa smell would waft all the way up 44 as far as Harvard. But that was usually in the evening and early morning.
I have to admit that is really not the case now. Maybe do to refinery restrictions or EPA regulations.

[Townsend]

Ok guy's. A little slow here. Help me out with the Pink Elephant title.

I figured it was what a drunk 800 lbs gorilla would see.

[RecycleMichael]

Holly was just merged with Frontier Oil.

This may affect the operation of one or both of Tulsa's refineries.

[Townsend]

Holly was just merged with Frontier Oil.

This may affect the operation of one or both of Tulsa's refineries.

Like a rusting superfund site or a cleaned up, shiny refinery (ies)?

[bacjz00]

Wow, lot's of comments here already!! 

Sorry if I came across a little hyperbolic.

I agree the smell is stronger on overcast, humid days and it seems to be particularly prevalent in the mornings.   All I know is that once I get to about 23rd Street Northbound on 75 and until I get to about 7th and Denver the odor is enough for me to be CONSCIOUS of the fact that there's an odor.   It smells like a chemical, not really rotten eggs, but almost sweet.

I realize that every city is going to have its own peculiarities, but we're NOT Amarillo and we're certainly not Dodge City, KS or Wichita.  I think we should definitely set ourselves apart from other western Midwestern cities as often as possible.  having the Ozarks nearby and so many wonderful lakes is something that I love about Tulsa.  Just hate to see our prime area of redevelopment being consumed by noxious fumes.

Hey if it's not illegal, then I guess we should just go back to our regularly scheduled programming.  I'd just like to know what the particular smell IS and whether or not it's harmful.  The particular smell I'm thinking of hasn't changed in 10-15 years.  So there's obviously one particular activity that's responsible for it.  Would be great if it "went away" but I realize that everyone has to make money too.

[TURobY]

Wow, lot's of comments here already!! 

Sorry if I came across a little hyperbolic.

I agree the smell is stronger on overcast, humid days and it seems to be particularly prevalent in the mornings.   All I know is that once I get to about 23rd Street Northbound on 75 and until I get to about 7th and Denver the odor is enough for me to be CONSCIOUS of the fact that there's an odor.   It smells like a chemical, not really rotten eggs, but almost sweet.

I caught wind of that too, on around Friday or Saturday. It was strong enough that I thought a maple syrup truck had overturned and spilled its haul on the highway. I lived in Westport for a few years, and so I'm used to refinery (sulphur) smell. But this was sickly sweet, and not like anything I've smelled before in the area.

[Conan71]

The smell is similar to phosphonic acid which is used in polymer cooling tower and boiler water treatments.  I used to work in that industry, that's the only reason I know what it smells like.  I smelled it more right by the galvanizing plant as I was riding onto Avery Drive on my bicycle Saturday.  Could have been coming from the Sun refinery since it's just to the south and the wind was out of the south at the time.  I also get that smell out by Sand Springs at times.

[TurismoDreamin]

A portion of the NCAA tournament has been held at the BOK Arena before. I'm surprised that it came back at all considering the disappointing attendance the year it was here. As for the smell, I commute to work from South of Tulsa and take highway 75 to the hospital several times per week. As others have said, the smell has its days and usually does its worst during the morning hours. But after time, you just learn to roll your windows up and make sure air recirculating mode, not fresh air mode, is on.

Let's just hope Nam Hai doesn't open up shop next to the refineries or we're all in for a rude awakening.

[OSU]

A portion of the NCAA tournament has been held at the BOK Arena before. I'm surprised that it came back at all considering the disappointing attendance the year it was here. As for the smell, I commute to work from South of Tulsa and take highway 75 to the hospital several times per week. As others have said, the smell has its days and usually does its worst during the morning hours. But after time, you just learn to roll your windows up and make sure air recirculating mode, not fresh air mode, is on.

Let's just hope Nam Hai doesn't open up shop next to the refineries or we're all in for a rude awakening.

No it hasn't....However, Tulsa hosted NCAA tournament games five times, all at the Mabee Center on the campus of Oral Roberts University, between 1974 and 1985.