Oil Reaches Texas

As a kid I remember always ending up with tar on things when we went down to the beach. It has been a long time since we've spent as much time at the water as we have in recent months, but we hadn't encountered any tar in recent history. Well, thanks to the little oil spill in the Gulf, the tar was back this 4th of July weekend. Until I saw this article I didn't think that the tar we got on us was from the oil spill, but guess I was wrong. After getting a spot on my new swimsuit I now remember why we always wore our older suits to the beach when I was a kid - better come out of my new suit or I might have to send BP the bill for a new one!

Tar balls from oil spill found on Bolivar coastline

Copyright 2010 HOUSTON CHRONICLE

July 5, 2010, 11:36PM

GALVESTON — About a dozen tar balls that washed ashore on Crystal Beach were identified Monday as oil from the BP well blowout in the Gulf of Mexico, the first evidence that oil from the spill has reached the Texas coastline.

But it was unclear whether the oil from the blowout dropped off a passing ship or drifted nearly 400 miles.

Laboratory tests showed that the tar balls came from the BP Macondo well that blew out April 20, killing 11 crew members on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig and spewing millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf, said Coast Guard Cpt. Marcus Woodring, commander of the Houston-Galveston sector.

The handful of tar balls came ashore Saturday and a second wave amounting to about 5 gallons of oil was found Sunday scattered along 1½ miles of beach on eastern Galveston Island and Crystal Beach on the Bolivar Peninsula, Woodring said. Laboratory results on the oil discovered Sunday are expected today, Woodring said.