Island End River Mystery Spill; Boston, MA

Boston, MA | 2006-Jan-10

Initial Notification: Monday afternoon US Coast Guard, Sector Boston was notified of a release in the area of the Island End River in Boston Harbor. The source, the amount and the product were (and remain) unconfirmed. However, it is suspected that the release happened sometime on the night of Sunday January 08 and was a diesel or #2 heating oil product (chemical analysis through the USCG Marine Safety Lab is pending) and the amount is somewhere between 5,000 and 10,000 gallons. Helped by slow currents and consistent west to southwest winds, a large portion of the released product pooled at the northern end of the Island End River (IER) and recovery operations have been focused there. Some oil sheen was reported in the Mystic River (upper end of Boston Harbor) and in the Chelsea River, about a half a mile east of the IER, but none of it was deemed recoverable. Protective booming of the salt marshes at the end of the Chelsea River (aka: "Chelsea Creek") was deployed as an extra safety measure. The Island End River is more of an inlet than a true river. Historically (a century ago) it flowed through Chelsea and Everett to the sea. Today it terminate approximately a quarter mile from the Mystic River (generally considered part of Boston Harbor), is about 200 yards wide and heavily industrialized on one side. The other side has a small park and condominium project known as Admiral Hill. Environmentally the area is of note due to historic (and heavy) contamination from coal tar. The bottom sediments as well as much of the southeastern shoreline are contaminated by chronic (now secured) and acute releases of the materials. The exposed coal tar on the shoreline dates back to the 1940s. The material is a byproduct of a large coal gasification facility that operated from the turn of the 19th century to sometime in the early 1960s. Response Activities: The USCG has been supervising the oil spill cleanup contractor as it uses vacuum trucks and sorbents to recover trapped materials. Over 3,000 gallons (oil) have been recovered thus far. NOAA Activities: The NOAA SSC has been working with the FOSC and SOSC on cleanup options and spill characterization, including work with the NOAA HAZMAT modeling staff on oil fate calculations, and reverse trajectories.