Deer Park residents voice frustration in response to bad smells: 'This is affecting a lot of people'

DEER PARK, Texas (KTRK) -- Lifelong Deer Park resident, Ron Anderson, said recurring bad smells shouldn't make people feel discouraged; he wants them to feel fired up. He said just because you live around the industry, doesn't mean you should live a life negatively impacted by it.

"It will come and hang around until 2 or 3 in the afternoon, and you just won't want to go outside," Anderson said.

Ron said in the last handful of years, the smells and odors have been more frequent in his community.

"You just can't stand the smell," Ron said.

Ron has called, reported, and raised the alarm but says there's been no results from his efforts.

"When we do smell it, I think about calling, but then again I think about the history I've had with calling," Anderson said.

Anderson is not alone. Others have raised the alarm online this week about a particularly chemical smell.

ABC13 reached out to Texas City and Galveston County's offices of emergency management and Harris County Pollution Control. They all said they've been getting reports this week about a concerning smell, but no one can tell where it's coming from.

Harris County Pollution Control said the description of the smell leads them to believe it is a combination of chemicals. They are doing air monitoring but have not found the source and believe it is not coming from Harris County.

Anderson said this is the frustrating part. He'll call in a smell, but crews may not come for hours. The wind will shift, the smell will go away, and the source remains a mystery. He hopes more people calling could prompt a quicker response. He's also hoping a big push from the community could lead to more accountability from the industry in the area.

"If anything, maybe these industries don't realize the impact. Maybe the awareness of, 'Hey, this is affecting a lot of people.' Maybe they will relook at their procedures of how they handle these chemicals or whatever it is and say, 'We'll put in an aromatic management system to cut down this.' Because if you don't live by it, you don't think about it," Anderson said.

If you smell something strange, you're encouraged to contact your local EOM or Harris County Pollution Control.

For more news updates, follow Lileana Pearson on Facebook, X and Instagram.