As if the East River wasn’t toxic enough https://t.co/uw15dvcSnU
— New York Post Metro (@nypmetro) May 9, 2017
There have been news reports throughout the day about the Con Ed substation in DUMBO that "spewed dielectric fluid into the East River on Sunday, causing an oil slick that witnesses said could be seen in Queens," as Gothamist put it.
A Coast Guard spokesperson described this as a "catastrophic failure" of a transformer at the substation.
The spill also caused a voltage dip that caused delays on several subway lines and suspended NYC Ferry service.
Here's the official statement from ConEd:
Con Edison is working to contain and clean up transformer insulating oil that was released from one of our substations in Brooklyn near the East River. A transformer containing approximately 37,000 gallons of insulating oil used with electrical equipment, failed on Sunday May 7 at 12:23 p.m., causing much of the oil to be released within the station property in addition to the East River. The equipment failure also caused a system voltage dip that impacted the MTA’s signaling systems on Sunday, resulting in a disruption to some train service.
Con Edison responded immediately, placing boom, absorbents and skimmers in the river. Our own employees and environmental contractors are working on the cleanup, and we are working cooperatively with the U.S. Coast Guard, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and other agencies. We continue to assess the volume of oil that migrated to the East River, and how much oil remains in the ground on our property.
The Coast Guard has issued reduced speed restrictions for commercial vessels operating in the area, and banning recreational vessels, to assist the cleanup process. We are taking all actions to contain and clean up the oil as safely and as quickly as possible.
