Environmental Technician Calls Roebling Oil Spill "Huge"

Another test well was drilled yesterday on N. 11th Street across the street from the Roebling Oil Building. One of the technicians working on the project--who is very familiar with the spill area--called the underground spill "huge," according to a resident who had a long conversation with the workers. "It's much bigger than just a tank of oil," he reportedly said. The workers, who are with a firm called Envirotrac, are drilling test wells for the Department of Environmental Conservation. The resident who watched the drilling noted that the soil became "as black as charcoal" as the crew drilled deeper.

Here is some of the report we received:

[The technician] explained that he thought this oil spill was "huge." He gave me some of his opinion. He said that the developer/owner of McCarren Park Mews opposite first started his own investigation which is why the initial test wells were put down. The DEC then took over at state level to continue the investigation because they realized it was much bigger then a few test wells. He believed that when the building opposite started digging they went well below the water table to start their structure and in doing so started to pump the water. When pumping the water, it pulled up the oil from the subsurface and it kept coming as they kept pumping. The guy said to me that it's much bigger then just a tank of oil. They are even putting wells on Union and N 11th for this one. He said they have got work in the area almost everyday.

Here is what the worker is reported to have said about obtaining test results, which many people have complained have not been available to the public:

When I asked if we could get test results, he said "No, I can't give you those." I said, "not from you of course, but would they ever be published in such a way that we(residents) could get them? Like from the DEC?" He said, "You could try but the DEC would never give you that either. They can be difficult most of the time."

We have always been very restrained in characterizing the extent of the underground oil at the Roebling Oil Field because we don't know how much is there or its source, nor have any of the documents we have seen shed light on the mystery. We do know that when people in the field that are doing tests--who are employed by a major player in the environmental testing field--call a spill "huge" and say that it is "much bigger than just a tank of oil" that it tends to set off some alarm bells. Or, at least, creates a strong desire for state environmental officials to fully disclose every bit of information about what is under the ground near the Roebling Oil Field and the potential scope of the oil contamination. Hundreds of new residential units are planned in areas that could potentially be impacted by a "huge" underground contamination issue. The source who had the conversation with the worker concludes by saying this of the lack of information:

It's like sitting on a mine field with nowhere to turn. No one will help us poor residents. Clean up could take decades. And by then we will all drop dead from cancers! What do we do now?

More to come.