Letter to the editor: Concerns about odors from gas wells

Thanks for your article “Murrys­ville abandoned gas well to be plugged; state officials assessing thousands more” (March 28, TribLive). I am concerned about the escaping methane odor that bothered Pamela Schrank. Methane is dangerous because it is explosive. However, it is odorless. Gas companies put odorants like mercaptans into their methane gas supplies to warn people of leaks. If this is escaping gas from a natural gas well, then the odor might be due to the presence of highly toxic hydrogen sulfide, which sometimes occurs in gas deposits. This odor issue needs to be checked out further.

The town of Versailles has a hydrogen sulfide problem with a couple of their wells. The American Petroleum Institute cautions about the possibility of hydrogen sulfide in gas and oil deposits.

Larry Irr

Trafford

The writer is a chemist.