Gas companies scramble with 1500 gas leak calls

Atmos Energy had to call in extra crews to respond to 1,500 gas leak calls since Monday morning.

The issue is the "over-odorization" of the gas sent to homes in the Jackson area.

Natural gas is odorless, so gas companies usually add just a few drops of Mercaptan to the lines. Mercaptan has a noticeable smell to it, which then alerts you to a possible gas leak.

Robert Lesley, spokesman for Atmos, says normally that chemical burns off with the natural gas when you fire up your gas stove or your water heater turns on.

But if there's too much in the lines, the smell will linger.

That is what happened in this case, Lesley said.

Boardwalk Pipeline Partners, the Houston-based company that supplies Atmos and Centerpoint Energy with their gas, put too much Mercaptan in the lines.

A Boardwalk spokesman said the excess odorant appears to be caused by a faulty switch, and Atmos and Centerpoint were the only companies affected.

Since Monday, Atmos responded to 1,500 calls, when they normally respond to about 25 calls a day. They found 10 leaks. Centerpoint received around 50 calls, but found no leaks.

Both companies are still receiving calls, and they encourage you to call them if you smell gas.

As for who will pay for the extra manpower to check all these calls:

"We're cataloging the expenses related to this and will decide what to do once we get this all resolved," Lesley said.

Those expenses could be invoiced back to the supplier.

When asked whether Boardwalk will reimburse the companies affected, the spokesman said the company is "working with those that were affected."

Dawn R. Dugle is the Community Engagement Editor at The Clarion-Ledger. You can follow her onTwitter.