Tar balls hit Texas beaches as weather disrupts cleanup of the oil spill

Tar balls have reached some of the Texas beaches, and the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico 2010 has fouled the shoreline of each gulf state. Driven by winds from Hurricane Alex, the BP oil spill is spreading as bad weather continued to stop the cleanup efforts. Tar balls have also reached Louisiana’s Lake Ponchetrain. As the BP oil spill approaches 130 million gallons and counting, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) expanded the no-fishing zone within the gulf and then explained that tar balls have a good chance of washing ashore as far away as Fort Lauderdale and Miami.

Resource for this article: Tar balls hit Texas beaches as weather disrupts cleanup of the oil spill by Personal Money Store

As tar balls hit beaches, Texas is in denial

Tar balls found Sunday on eastern Galveston Island in Texas were from the oil spill within the Gulf of Mexico 2010, as reported by the U.S. Coast Guard. It was reported by the Houston Chronicle that officials believe the tar balls reached the Galveston area from a ship that got tar balls stuck or attached to its side traveling through the BP oil spill area. Ships which were passing through the BP oil spill are designed to go through a decontamination station before reaching the coastline. Texas authorities still insist the oil slick that has fouled the beaches of other Gulf states is not coming anywhere towards them.

Bad weather stops cleanup of the oil spill

Oil spill business BP said it’s stepping up oil skimming efforts, despite the fact that bad weather has made that impossible. Gulf tourism faced a very sad Fourth of July weekend that had nothing to do with the stormy weather. AOL News reports that Hurricane Alex shut down oil skimming last week and a new tropical system is brewing east of the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. A new storm may strike Texas and Louisiana on Wednesday, as outlined by AccuWeather.com. High seas nevertheless held up oil skimming, burning oil or laying boom Tuesday.

Tested was huge oil skimming ship

Oil spill cleanup efforts may soon be aided by a vessel that's supposed to be the world’s biggest oil skimmer. The New York Times reports that the Taiwanese-flagged ship A Whale is three and a half football fields long and 10 stories high. It’s outfitted with vents on its bow, which are expected to skim as much as 21 million gallons of oil-tainted water each day. But stiff winds and choppy seas have made that impossible so far. A Whale is one of more than 6,563 ships, along with some 113 aircraft that BP is paying for within the oil spill cleanup. The spill price tag has hit $3.12 billion.

Tar balls forecasted to hit Miami soon

As skimming is on hold and the BP oil leak continues to spew into the sea, NOAA forecasts that the loop current brings a 61-80 percent chance that tar balls will reach within 20 miles of the coasts of the Florida Keys, Fort Lauderdale and Miami. It was reported by USA Today that NOAA said the coastlines most likely — 81 to 100 percent — to be hit by oil extend from the Mississippi River Delta to the western panhandle of Florida, where tar balls are already washing ashore. NOAA says Chances are slight — 1 to 20 percent — that oil will reach the Eastern Seaboard, and it is “increasingly unlikely” that oil will affect areas above North Carolina since the Gulf Stream moves away from the continental United States at Cape Hatteras.

More info accessible at these websites:

Houston Chronicle

chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7096109.html

AOL News

aolnews.com/article/tar-balls-reach-texas-shores-amid-new-storm-threat/19542753

New York Times

nytimes.com/2010/07/06/us/06latest.html?scp=1&sq=A Whale oil spill&st=cse

USA Today

content.usatoday.com/communities/greenhouse/post/2010/07/us-report-bp-spill-likely-to-reach-florida-keys-miami/1