Mystery cable leaking oil into the Mystic

By adamg on Sat, 04/14/2018 - 6:10pm

Oil and water sampling by a Coast Guard technician in the Mystic River

Petty Officer 2nd Class Bradley Martin collects sheen samples. Photo by the Coast Guard.

The Coast Guard, the state Department of Environmental Protection and a private oil-spill company are cleaning up an oil spill on the Mystic River near the Alford Street bridge even as they try to figure out which underwater cable it's leaking from.

The Coast Guard was scheduled to send divers into the water today to try to find the source of the dielectric oil, used as an insulator in electrical conduits.

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Comments

By Elmer on Sat, 04/14/2018 - 7:42pm.

^{( another Martin Sheen sample )}

Yesterday

By Samuel Murphy on Sat, 04/14/2018 - 9:39pm.

I noticed a light oil sheen on the downstream side of the dam near the Somerville shore. Chatting with a fisherman neither of us had ever seen that in the area.

So pernicious

By BlackKat on Sun, 04/15/2018 - 11:45am.

Just as an example of how badly these can spread [from electrical conduits], look no further than a previous Universal Hub story:
http://www.universalhub.com/node/15140

So many unmapped things

By SwirlyGrrl on Sun, 04/15/2018 - 4:50pm.

Part of the problem is that there are way too many unmapped dumping connections to the Mystic and Malden rivers that it is really difficult to track things down when bad stuff happens.

.

By SwirlyGrrl on Sun, 04/15/2018 - 4:50pm.

duplicate.

Oil is bad enough but old

By anon on Sun, 04/15/2018 - 2:20pm.

Oil is bad enough but old conduits sometimes had PCBs mixed into the oil as well.