or somebody was using bio-gas to fuel their car

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070108/...s/nyc_gas_odor

NEW YORK - Authorities were investigating the source of a mysterious gas-like odor Monday that stretched across a large part of Manhattan.

The Fire Department began getting calls about the odor around 9 a.m. Monday, said spokesman Tim Hinchey. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey suspended some of its PATH commuter train service between New Jersey and Manhattan as a precaution.

Jersey City, N.J., mayor's spokeswoman Maria Pignataro said officials there were told the odor was due to a gas leak in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood, near Greenwich Village.

Consolidated Edison was investigating, utility spokeswoman Joy Faber said.

"The smell was very strong. It was very scary," said Yolanda Van Gemd, an administrator at ASA, a business school near the Empire State Building that was evacuated as a precaution.

In August, seven people were treated at hospitals after a gaseous smell in the boroughs of Queens and Staten Island.