Crime & Safety

VIDEO: Binney Park Pond Contaminated with Diesel, Oil

Multi-car, tractor-trailer crash on I-95 causes spill of fuel, lubricants that washed into popular Old Greenwich park during early morning heavy rains.

Something smells in in Old Greenwich and it's not scent of freshly cut grass.

The bucolic aesthetics of Binney Park were disturbed Friday morning by the stench of diesel fuel, and the spreading oily sheen throughout the park stream and pond, much to the chagrin of residents and park visitors. The environmental intruder apparently is the result of a multi tractor-trailer and car collision shortly before 2:30 a.m. Friday in the southbound lanes of Interstate 95, between exits 6 and 5.

About 40 gallons of fuel, transmission fluid and engine oil, drained from the wreck and some of it was washed into nearby storm sewers by the overnight heavy rains. The sewers drain into Cider Mill Creek on Center Drive and continue downstream into the park pond and ultimately into Long Island Sound.

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Deputy Chief Brian Koczak said crews used Speedy Dry to absorb the spilled fluids but efforts were hampered by the rain.

When state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection officials came to Center Drive, it was determined that some of the oily fluids was actually cooking oil, Koczak said. While officials will have to determine the source of the cooking oil and whether it was deliberately dumped into the stream, booms were in place to contain the substance Friday afternoon. Crews from Connecticut Tank Removal also skimmed the pond water surface to remove the oil, Koczak said.

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The park is bound by Sound Beach Avenue, Arch Street and Wesskum Wood Road.

"When I went out at 6 AM to get my newspaper, you could smell it and my eyes started to burn even though it was raining," said Center Drive resident David Rafferty, who also is president of the Old Greenwich Association.

"The smell is awful. This makes me so sad - Binney Park is the most beautiful place in the world, even when it's raining," said Kathy Rhodes, a former Old Greenwich resident now residing in Stamford, as she walked her two golden retrievers JoJo and Jnana in the park. Rhodes also expressed concern for the park's wildlife. "There are huge turtles that come up out of the water when people come with food on the stone bridge.

Indeed, one of the turtles was spotted amid the oily muck slowly poking its head above water, near the arched stone bridge in the park.

Rafferty said he also is concerned that the heavy overnight rainfall caused the stream and pond to overflow the banks and pollute the park lawns and fields, where the Old Greenwich Riverside Community Center soccer league was scheduled to practice and hold matches Friday and Saturday.

Koczak said the containment booms would remain in place over the weekend and that incoming tidal action and continuing rains would help dissipate the oils.

According to a Connecticut State Police report, the crash occurred when three tractor-trailers tried avoid a previous accident that left one car blocking the right and center lanes. Two the trucks jackknifed and another sideswiped a fourth vehicle. Four of the five drivers were taken to local hospitals for treatment of non-life threatening injuries.


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