ST. LOUIS – From time to time, there appears to be an unusual smell swirling around St. Louis, an odor some residents recognized as recently as this week.
Former St. Louis Alderwoman Annie Rice described on social media platform X it as an “awful chemical smell in the air” around Chouteau Avenue and 18th street near downtown. Others replied that they smelt something in the city’s Tower Grove South, Princeton Heights and Old North St. Louis neighborhoods.
And just last month, some in the St. Louis Reddit community observed a similar smell. One Reddit user who started the conversation described it as a “chemical/petroleum odor” across multiple neighborhoods.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has acknowledged its awareness of “odor concerns” in St. Louis on a website page last updated in December 2023.
Officials say the EPA and Missouri Department of Natural Resources have received “numerous odor complaints” in the St. Louis region since 2021. The EPA notes that St. Louis has several neighborhoods close to dense industrial areas, potentially exposing residents to “disproportionate impacts on their health and/or environment.”
The EPA says it conducted a survey to screen for emissions in 44 identified St. Louis-area facilities and found 15 in need of further compliance inspections. However, the EPA added it “cannot discuss potential or ongoing enforcement action” following the survey, and has not formally identified sources of the unusual odor.
Missouri U.S. Congresswoman Cori Bush has been pushing the EPA to investigate unusual odors in St. Louis that she described as “toxic fumes.”
“Residents often feel they cannot venture outside of their homes as the fumes are so debilitating,” said Bush in a letter to the EPA. “I am concerned that these odors could be causing grave physical harm, as numerous constituents have expressed concerns that they believe the air is leading to adverse health outcomes for them and their families.”
Coincidentally, some communities in the Metro East reported a foul odor last week that has since dissipated. Those odors were mostly north of St. Louis city limits.
To report an unusual odor that you believe could pose environmental risks, promptly report it to the MoDNR or EPA online.
