Galveston tar balls are from Gulf oil spill - or not?

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City: Galveston tar balls are from Gulf oil spill
Story posted 2010.07.05 at 02:42 PM CDT

The City of Galveston has confirmed that the tar balls that washed ashore over the weekend on the Galveston coastline are in fact from the Deepwater Horizon oil rig spill in the Gulf.
Beachgoers in Galveston County spotted the tar balls washing ashore this weekend. The small tar balls washed up on East Beach in Galveston and Crystal Beach on the Bolivar Peninsula.

Tar balls are not uncommon on Bolivar beaches, but authorities tested them to determine their origin.

According to a City spokesperson, the tests for the tar balls came back positive. The Coast Guard, along with city and state officials, are holding a press conference Monday at 4pm to release the test results.

http://www.localwireless.com/wap/news/text.jsp?sid=25&nid=15361762&cid=2478

 

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Re: Galveston tar balls are from Gulf oil spill

Re: Galveston tar balls are from Gulf oil spill

Tar balls from Gulf oil spill turn up in Texas

July 5, 2010
ASSOCIATED PRESS
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GALVESTON, Texas (AP) ? A top Texas official said Monday that tar balls from the Gulf oil spill have been found on state beaches, marking the first known evidence that gushing crude from the Deepwater Horizon well has now reached all the Gulf states.

Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson said two crews were removing tar balls found on the Bolivar Peninsula and Galveston Island on Sunday.

?We?ve said since day one that if and when we have an impact from Deepwater Horizon, it would be in the form of tarballs,? Patterson said in a news release. ?This shows that our modeling is accurate. Any Texas shores impacted by the Deepwater spill will be cleaned up quickly and BP will be picking up the tab.?

The state said responders have recovered about 35 gallons of waste material tainted by the oil from the two sites.

Signs of landfall by oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill had previously only been reported in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle.

The distance between the western-most reach of the spill in Texas and the eastern-most reports of oil in Florida is about 550 miles.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/nation/2466374,texas-gulf-oil-spill-tar-balls-wash-070510.article

 

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Re: Galveston tar balls are from Gulf oil spill

Re: Galveston tar balls are from Gulf oil spill

DATE: July 05, 2010 21:18:51 CST

Tar balls along Texas coast are from Deepwater Horizon; How they arrived unclear

HOUSTON -- Tar balls collected from the Crystal Beach area of the Bolivar Peninsula on Saturday came from the Deepwater Horizon spill, tests have confirmed, but it is unclear how the material got to Texas.

Investigators discovered very small tar balls in the surf, but not on shore, Saturday evening. The tar balls were collected and sent to the lab to be tested where they were determined to be associated with the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The testing found that the oil was lightly weathered, raising doubts that the oil traversed the Gulf from the spill source. Boats carry oil collected during the response to Texas for processing raising the possibility the oil could have been transported on a vessel.

The Coast Guard, Texas General Land Office (TGLO), and the City of Galveston patrolled the beaches by both helicopter and on foot over the weekend. On Sunday, teams discovered some dime-sized to nickel-sized tar balls on both Bolivar Peninsula's Crystal Beach and Galveston's East Beach.

The Coast Guard hired a contractor to remove the tar balls. A total of approximately 35 gallons of sand/seaweed/tar balls was recovered in Crystal Beach on the Bolivar Peninsula and on East Beach in Galveston on Sunday and Monday. Crews estimate that of the 35 gallons of material recovered, there were about 7 gallons of tar balls contained within the waste material. The largest was ping-pong ball sized. Lab analysis continues on the tar balls recovered on Sunday and Monday.

The Coast Guard, TGLO and City of Galveston will continue patrols to find and clean up tar balls. A command post has also been established. All Galveston beaches and Southeast Texas waterways remain open.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), for most people, an occasional brief contact with a small amount of oil will do no harm. However, some people are especially sensitive to chemicals, including the hydrocarbons found in crude oil and petroleum products. In general, NOAA recommends that if oil contact occurs, the area be washed with soap and water, baby oil or another safe cleaning compound.

The public can report an oil spill or tar ball sighting by calling the Texas General Land Office at 1-800-832-8224 or the National Response Center at 1-800-424-8802.

For information about the response effort, visit www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com.

http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com/go/doc/2931/740443/

 

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Re: Galveston tar balls are from Gulf oil spill - or not?

Coast Guard: Most Texas tar balls not from spill

By RAMIT PLUSHNICK-MASTI (AP) ? 4 hours ago

TEXAS CITY, Texas ? Coastal officials in Texas now say that new laboratory tests show most of the tar balls that have washed up on Texas shores in the past few days are not from the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Coast Guard spokesman Petty Officer Richard Brahm says new lab tests found that almost none of the tar balls originate from the BP-operated Deepwater Horizon rig that blew up on April 20.

On Monday, officials said that the source of the tar balls found over the weekend along the Gulf Coast was the Deepwater Horizon.

Brahm says more testing will be done to try to find out where the tar balls came from. He says it may be from another leak or naturally occurring seepages from the seabed.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h6vS660VEiP0Cy0RWYUZKz8tj0dwD9GRMG3O0