Medford, Arlington Receive Money for Damage Caused by 2013 Oil Spill
The Town of Arlington and the City of Medford have been awarded $81,600 by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to support projects that will help restore natural resources in the Upper Mystic River damaged during a tanker-truck fuel oil spill in June 2013.
Medford will receive $34,275. The Town of Arlington was awarded $47,325 for its Mystic River Restoration Project. The funds will be used to reduce riverbank erosion at an existing outfall along the Upper Mystic River, create a native habitat following input from community groups, and create interpretive materials to increase public awareness along the river.
“We’re pleased to be receiving these funds,” Town Manager Adam Chapdelaine said in a statement Nov. 10. “They will help remediate the damage done by the oil spill and assist in our efforts to keep the Mystic River a natural treasure for all visitors and inhabitants.”
The funds, using $55,100 from a settlement between the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and J.P. Noonan Transportation Inc. of West Bridgewater and supplemented by the Commonwealth’s Natural Resource Damage (NRD) Trust.
An additional $26,500 has been made available through the Commonwealth’s NRD Trust, which is funded from environmental fines and penalties.
A report about the settlement in 2014 with the state Department of Environmental Protection said two settlements totaled $55,100 and $7,187, respectively, with J.P. Noonan Transportation after the May 31, 2013, spill.
The spill occurred on Route 60 in Arlington when an oil tanker truck crashed while going around a rotary on the Mystic Valley Parkway. As a result of the crash, the 10,000-gallon compartment of the tanker was breached, dumping nearly all of its contents onto the roadway, which then flowed into storm drains and subsequently into the nearby Mystic River, a state news release said.
Police Chief Fred Ryan said in May 2013 that the tanker was coming on to Route 60 from Medford into Arlington when it failed to succesfully make the turn in the rotary and flipped. As a precaution, several homes in the immediate area were evacuated until the contents of the truck could be identified and the scene secured.
– Information from YourArlington.com was used in this report. Photos by Matt Haberstroh in June 2013.