Summer
Long Island, NY
I haven't passed Elizabeth, NJ in 45 years, but my vote is for the oil refineries. It's a horrendous odor one can never forget.
From Quora:
"The alleged “Jersey Stink” has improved over the years, and what’s left, although not the sweetest of smells, is mostly in the densely populated northeastern and southwestern parts of the state. For example, the area around the NJ Turnpike’s Exit 13A between Elizabeth and Newark includes the largest port on the East Coast, Newark Airport, major rail lines, very densely populated cities, and chemical and petroleum plants; all that can make the area smell like a three-day-old egg salad sandwich. Or worse.
A couple of the likely perpetrators contributing to an odoriferous NJ:
- The Marshlands, also known as the Meadowlands, a swampy area in northeastern NJ that exposes stinky marsh mud during low tides. Contains copious amounts of decaying plant matter, toxic chemicals, and waste. The area was used as a garbage dump and sewage treatment plant overflows. A ‘rotten egg’ smell indicates the presence of microbes using sulfur instead of oxygen for respiration.
- Linden / Elizabeth refineries
- The Anheuser Busch brewery in Newark
- Build-up of sewer gases, especially in very hot weather
- Industrial, manufacturing, and food processing smells
- Superfund and other chemical waste sites.
- Landfill
- Sewerage treatment facilities
"Because most people who pass through the state are traveling on the two major super highways (the NJ Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway) in one of the most congested and traveled auto corridors not just in the country, but in the world. Close to where those two highways intersect is a glut of smelly oil refineries, swampland, and one of the busiest international airports in the country, Newark-Liberty International. Not the most scenic part of the United States."
