Hundreds of gallons of commercial heating oil oozed into the Bronx River yesterday, leaving a 3½-mile slick that could take weeks to clean up, authorities said.
A woman jogging along the river in Scarsdale called police around 7:30 a.m. when she smelled oil, said Westchester County Executive Robert Astorino.
It took several hours for investigators to trace the ooze to its source: a 12-story residential and commercial building at 235 South Lexington Ave. in White Plains.
It is believed the oil made its way into storm drains that feed into the river.
Several waterfowl covered in oil and some dead fish were reported to have turned up on the shoreline.
Astorino said the cleanup bill will be sent to whoever investigators find is responsible.
“The taxpayers are not paying for this cleanup,” he said.
The once notoriously polluted waterway is the only freshwater river to flow through New York City.
“So much has gone into cleaning up the Bronx River — and look what happens,” said Anita Schenin, a Scarsdale resident who was walking her dog along the river in White Plains yesterday afternoon.