Leaking Oil Causing Gowanus Slick?

So, we were gazing at the Gowanus Canal the other day and noticed an oil slick between Union and Carroll streets. Not that we haven't seen oil on the Big G before and not that some great photos of it haven't been captured. In any case, the oil was coming to the surface near the Bayside Fuel Oil facility, which is between Bond Street and the canal on Union Street. The slick started as six-to-twelve-inch in diameter spots of oil that came to the surface and, then, expanded as they floated downstream. So, how much fuel is the Bayside facility spilling into the canal? There has long been a containment boom near the end of the canal and we noticed that it seemed to closer to the Union Street Bridge than normal, but the oil was surfacing beyond the boom.

With all the talk of making Gowanus a center of green industry and of cleaning the canal and trying to use it for recreational purposes, it would certainly seem that proponents like the Gowanus Canal Conservancy have their work cut out for them. Not only is there an ongoing sewerage overflow issue and potential added problems from Atlantic Yards, there are still obvious sources of serious industrial pollution. We are not naive about the latter, but this was the first time we'd photographed and videotaped it oozing to the surface.