Source: Former coal tar processing facility adjacent to the estuary.

Release: Coal tar.

Primary Injury: Surface and core sediments, collected in 1995 and 1996, respectively, from the Island End River show total polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) concentrations greater than 1,000 parts per million (ppm) at sites adjacent to the facility and in the hundreds of ppm as one approaches the Mystic River. A downriver gradient clearly exists, yet concentrations remain very elevated as one nears the Mystic River. Core sample PAH concentrations collected close to the Site are as high as 110,000 ppm in the deep organic silt zone.

The 1991 Ecological Risk Assessment, completed on behalf of the responsible parties, states that “the conditions in this area have impacted a local food supply for winter flounder and other demersal fish species, hence such fish will tend to avoid the area because of the lack of food and the because of the oily nature of the sediments.” A report completed by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute shows numerous internal and external tumors caused by Site-related PAH contamination in the local foraging fishery (killifish). Given that PAH concentrations remain extremely high as one approaches the Mystic River, it is likely that recreational fishery resources and supporting habitat in the Mystic River have been adversely affected by continuing releases from the Site.