Bronx River Alliance: Oil spill was ‘bad timing’ for waterfowl
The cleanup now involves placing booms across the river, down to Fordham Road. Con Edison says they should prevent the fluid from traveling farther south.
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The leak of what Con Edison called “non-hazardous insulating fluid” into the Bronx River was “bad timing” for waterfowl, according to environmentalists.
News 12 reported that spill came from a Con Edison transmission feeder in Yonkers and impacted a storm drain that has an outfall on the Bronx River. It said the substance was similar to mineral oil.
The cleanup now involves placing booms across the river, down to Fordham Road. Con Edison says they should prevent the fluid from traveling farther south.
News 12’s Kristie Reeter spoke with a member of the Bronx River Alliance who explained how the booms work.
“These catchment booms are designed to catch any kind of material on the surface of the water, so they kind of go across the river's channel, anything that is floating downstream on the surface is going to get caught and that makes it easier for it to be scooped out and removed safely," said the Bronx River Alliance representative, who said the spill was bad timing for waterfowl who are already on the river.
"Early spring is when waterfowl like geese and ducks have their babies and so we are expecting that goslings and ducklings are on the river right now so this is really bad timing for them. This oil could coat their feathers. It could harm them. It could prevent them from flying."
