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Oil flows into Muddy River on Boston/Brookline line, coating, endangering birds

Old coated goose near Longwood

Oil-covered goose near Longwood.

Brookline and Boston firefighters responded to the Muddy River and Leverett Pond this afternoon on reports of oil - and a heavy petroleum odor, spreading from Leverett Pond at the rear of the Brook House at 33 Pond Ave. in Brookline and at least as far north as the Longwood Green Line stop.

Duck in the river near the Longwood T stop that tried to clean the oil off itself:

Duck coated in oil

Boston firefighters deployed booms to try to contain the spill, which, in addition to the smell, created a sheen that spread downriver. A commander on scene called in a specialized oil-spill trailer stored at the Engine 39 firehouse in South Boston. The New England Wildlife Center, which sent rescuers to the river, say the oil is "suspected to be heating oil."

Goose huddled by booms just upstream of the Longwood T stop this evening:

Goose near a boom set down in the river

As word spread, Jamaica Plain residents began organizing a rescue effort to try to clean the potentially lethal oil off the birds - many of which could be seen desperately trying to clean themselves and so ingesting the liquid.

One JP resident drove to the Longwood T stop with a tarp, bottles of water, paper towels and Dawn liquid. A group from the Newhouse Wildlife Rescue in Chelmsford - the organization that saved Nibi the Beaver - came down with pet carriers to try to take the birds in for cleaning.

But Boston Park Rangers, assuming loose control of the site on the Brookline side of the river, told them to stay away from the birds, at least until state Environmental Police arrived and gave the OK. The JP resident started offering some of the bottles of water to people waiting for Environmental Police to show, in case they were thirsty. Then night fell, no Environmental Police had arrived, and the would be rescuers were told to leave.

Unused tarp and other cleaning supplies:

Tarp, towels, water and Dawn

Environmental Police officers and rescuers from the New England Wildlife Center did eventually arrive at the river. The rescuers were able to capture several ducks, which they drove to the center's Weymouth clinic for cleaning and care and said they plan to return in the morning.

The center reports:

Our team will be working overtime tonight intaking, stabilizing, and providing emergency care to the Canada geese and ducks. Our priority is to clear airways and flush oil from the eyes and mouth, and provide heat support to help them compensate. We will begin the washing process once they are stable enough to undergo the procedure.

We will be back on scene first-thing in the morning to continue the rescue effort and get the remaining animals into care.

In the interim, we are asking folks not to approach or attempt to capture any wildlife in this area! They are very stressed and contact with the oil may be harmful to humans and pets. Many of the remaining birds are still able to fly so we don’t want to cause them additional harm or cause them to leave the area.

Since 2022, Brookline residents have filed several 311 reports about oil leaks into the Muddy River system from the area of Pond Avenue, including one in April that stated "Oil leaking along the river contaminated the water and the shore which already made waterfowls sick," another in December, 2023 that oil has been in the water and along the shore for "a while," one in July, 2022 that included a picture of heating-oil drums outside the Brook House and the assertion they were leaking and another two days before that one that complained: "Strong smell of diesel fuel at Pond Ave entrance of Olmsted park. Possible oil spill!!"

Just this past summer, the Army Corps of Engineers completed a multi-year, $90-million project to clean up and restore the river and its banks north of Leverett Pond.

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Comments

Do they have any sense of the source?

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Brook House Condominiums have been repeat offenders, twice since I've lived in Brookline, according to another commenter they've been the culprits of pollution for over 15 years. I wouldn't be surprised if it was them again, since they don't seem to suffer any consequences.

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The culprits should be jailed and fined millions. There is no excuse for this.

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if anything, shame on the birds for bathing themselves in oil. they should know better. /s

This sounds like repeat offenders ! This is unacceptable on every level ! Surely if they can put a man on the moon they can find AND FIX the cause of this leak . These poor birds and probably fish are all affected by this . Wildlife during the winter months are already struggling to find food. They are the innocent and our Wildlife matters ! Shame on this situation ! It needs to be remedied ASAP !!

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This happened in the same area in 2021 and 2022. It's also happened numerous times over the past 15 years (2008, 2010, and maybe other years). The most recent incidents were linked to the Brook House Condominiums (https://imgbb.com/71NzW7x). There should be hell to pay if this is from the same source.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Brookline/comments/w4of2y/brookline_condos_leak...

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New England Wildlife Center says the petroleum is suspected to be heating oil.

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Eliminating the nasty consequences of leaking oil is one more reason to encourage the transition to heat pumps!

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There's a reason insurance requires a separate rider and fee if you have an oil tank. Spills are common as old tanks leak and rupture. Many older tanks are buried so there's no clue there is a problem until it's already causing damage. And spills are really difficult to remediate and destructive.

Gas and electric batteries have problems too but nothing causes as many ongoing environmental problems as oil. It can't be retired soon enough.

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Added links to reports to Brookline's 311 system dating back two years about oil in or near Leverett Pond.

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That is terrible. Nice infrastructure. The high wealth of Brookline should come down upon government will great vengeance and furious anger .. Goulston Storrs Environmental Team coming in hard.

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They will likely show up if they were actually called in on this. They are flying monkeys and are not to be trifled with.

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But did eventually

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I really hope Brook House is held fully accountable/ fined heavily if this was caused by them.

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IIRC Brookline's own Public Works yard or (some such) that had leaking underground tanks and even though they removed the tanks and "cleaned up" the site, #6 oil (used for heating) continued to mysteriously reappear on occasion as fluctuations in ground water (oil floating on top of it) would bring the oil plume in contact with leaky old storm water drains that lead to the pond. Analysis of the oil in the pond may help determine if its old oil that's been in the ground a while and what type of oil (#2 fuel oil, #6, diesel, etc. the fun name for this is "source speciation").

They can compare the oil spilled to the oil from Brook House and other known sources because oil has a unique "fingerprint" of concentrations of metals like chrome and nickel. If the culprit is positively ID'd, make 'em pay big!

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Environmental officials excuse for not showing up??? We want names.

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They did eventually arrive, along with people from the New England Wildlife Center.

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are fully separate branch of law enforcement and insanely underfunded. It's not more than a couple of officers per region which are very geographically broad. And it's full-on hunting season now and they cover that, spill issues like this, endangered species violations, etc. It's actually pretty pathetic how poorly they are funded given most hunters and anglers despise poachers and most everyone else also wants violators of environmental laws fully prosecuted. Write to your state representatives and the Gov's office.

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I regularly see an Environmental Police truck parked on Centre St in JP during work hours. While the restaurants in the area present a clear environmental and health hazard, I can imagine there are more pressing issues around.

All kinds.

… on Georges Island when a beautiful young stag broke his leg leaping over a chain link fence and was so badly injured and in such distress that he had to be shot.

Too large an animal anyway for rehab unfortunately.

The Environmental Police certainly are underfunded and could use some citizen support.

Their HQ is centrally located, but the actual officers live all over the state.

This isn't like a local police force. They cover the entire commonwealth, not just Boston.

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take the ducks

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n/t

Why a duck?

When they find the culprit, their goose is cooked!

Case noted?

Someone needs to tell Frank O’Laughlin it’s Canada geese.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/heating-oil-spills-boston-muddy-141803596.html

They are violating the law and have been for years. Polluting a river that taxpayers recently spent hundreds of millions cleaning up and rejuvenating.

This reeks of political favoritism. Who lives in those condos and why are they receiving protection?

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