Tar balls from BP oil spill found on Bolivar coastline

[onestepforward]

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7094982.html

Officials have confirmed that tar balls discovered over the holiday weekend on Crystal Beach in the Bolivar Peninsula are from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, marking the first time oil from the spill has been found on Texas beaches.

About 10-12 tar balls washed up on Crystal Beach on Saturday. On Sunday, 5 gallons of oil were also found on the same beach.

The tar balls ranged from the size of a dime to a golf ball.

After workers cleaned the beach, the tar balls and oil were sent to labs to be analyzed. Officials confirmed that the oil was from the Deepwater Horizon spill.
-snip-

:(

[sonias]

1. Well there goes the Texas beach then

So much for the thought that the Deepwater crap would never hit Texas beaches.

Is this still an act of God, Perry?

:( Very sad indeed.

[white cloud]

3. Need to give Joe Barton office a call

He will right down to apoligise for this "ACT OF GOD" and pick up the beaches. :evilgrin:
Maybe he can get Boehner, Bec, OxyRush, to come down and help.
Silicone Sarah :silly: can help cheerlead and then have a big WMD Mission Accomplished party :nuke: . Spill Baby spill, Drill Baby drill. :bounce:

We can't bill BP for this shakedown so get ready middle class Tax P. :bounce:

[sonias]

6. Oily Joe to the rescue

I can just hear Oily Joe now - don't rush to judgment. It's oil brought in by ships not coming in on its own.

BP will be responsible - just let me call them and apologize again and I'm sure they'll get right back to me. :eyes:

[onestepforward]

8. Here's a photo from today:

[tanyev]

9. Gracious. If that's a dime to golf ball size tar ball,

then that's a very tiny person.

[sonias]

2. NPR story on same

NPR 7/5/10
Tar Balls From Gulf Spill Wash Up On Texas Coast

Texas is the latest state to see oil washing up onto its beaches. Officials there confirm that the tar balls that were first spotted on Galveston's beaches over the weekend are from the blown-out Deepwater Horizon well in the Gulf of Mexico.

Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson said crews removed tar balls that washed up on the Bolivar Peninsula and on Galveston Island.

"Clearly I'm alarmed at the revelation that some tar balls had been positively identified as being from Deepwater Horizon," Galveston Mayor Joe Jaworski said. "It's not a good thing."

But Jaworski stressed that the oil found so far is a very small amount. He says the water remains clean and safe and that Galveston's beaches remain open.

"This is the good news — the system is working the way it should work," Jaworski said, adding that there were "no ill effects in the water."

:kick:

[white cloud]

4. Thanks for all the oil

Exploratory Drilling - Oct 2009 to Nov 2009
The Transocean Marianas is set to spud an exploration well at Mississippi Canyon block 252.
Bright Spot - Jun 2008 to Oct 2009
BP Exploration & Production acquired MC 252 at the 3/19/2008 Central GOM Lease Sale #206 with a bid of 34003428.00; Lease expiration 5/31/2018.

No 25% Royaltis to USA. Thanks for the No Royality Energy Policy Chaney.
:evilgrin:

[sonias]

5. Oil on Bolivar beach from BP spill

The Examiner 7/3/10
Oil on Bolivar beach from BP spill
Southeast Texans living in Crystal Beach on the Bolivar Peninsula got news late Saturday afternoon that they had rather not have received. Following Hurricane Alex sending excessively high tides, having the only road into Bolivar closed due to flooding and debris filling SH 87, and many businesses closed last week, vacationeers and residents alike reported oil residues on Crystal Beach.

Earlier this afternoon (Saturday July 3), property owners who are building a new home after Hurricane Ike destroyed their original one, Tim and Dana Turner of Beaumont, found a tar ball while playing in the surf. Shortly thereafter, neighbor and friend, Joni Harding returned to her new home after being in the Gulf, and walking along the edge of the shore near Sea Spray. As Harding walked up her stairs, she noticed unusually dark footprints on her new stairs. Reaching down to touch one of the footprints, she realized it was oil. Harding then took off her shoes and found the bottoms and sides covered with oil.

Washing her feet, hands, and ultimately her shoes with a dish detergent, she was able to get some of the residue off, but not nearly all.

"It smelled like oil," said Harding a long time peninsula home and business owner. She then decided to return to the edge of the surf for a closer look. There she found more oil that looked as though it was pooling up in areas.

:kick:

[onestepforward]

7. The media isn't even telling the whole story.

There is a lot more tar balls than "10-12." I've heard from one resident that she had more tar balls than that just on the bottom of her sandals.

This oil is an unprecedented disaster and the control of our media is the second one. I've even noticed big changes with Google searches limiting stories and photos this past week. BP has way too much power and it is frightening.

(added)

If anyone is interested, there is this information, "1st Amendment Supsended; BP Gulf Oil Spill Coverup Now Violates US Constitution And Bill of Rights:"

http://blog.alexanderhiggins.com/2010/07/04/1st-amendment-supsended-bp-gulf-oil-spill-coverup-now-violates-us-constitution-and-bill-of-rights/

[white cloud]

11. Thanks for the information

Lots of good information on the sites.

[TEXASYANKEE]

10. Fall migration.

Just in time for fall bird migration. And millions of birds use that coast line as their wintering grounds. It's all so sad.

[onestepforward]

19. I hope that this will help:

"Gulf farmers asked to flood fields for migrating birds"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4446589

This oil disaster couldn't have happened at a worse time. :(

[sonias]

12. Tar balls in Texas mean oil hits all 5 Gulf states

Fort Worth Star-Telegram 7/6/10
Tar balls in Texas mean oil hits all 5 Gulf states
(snip)
The oil's arrival in Texas was predicted Friday by an analysis from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which gave a 40 percent chance of crude reaching the area.

"It was just a matter of time that some of the oil would find its way to Texas," said Hans Graber, a marine physicist at the University of Miami and co-director of the Center for Southeastern Tropical Advanced Remote Sensing.

About five gallons of tar balls were found Saturday on the Bolivar Peninsula, northeast of Galveston, said Capt. Marcus Woodring, the Coast Guard commander for the Houston/Galveston sector. Two gallons were found Sunday on the peninsula and Galveston Island, though tests have not yet confirmed the oil's origin.

Woodring said the consistency of the tar balls indicates they could have been spread to Texas water by ships that have worked out in the spill. But there's no way to confirm how they got there.

You see how one segment is putting some doubt in there, saying this is not oil coming from the Deepwater in the ocean tides but rather freeloading on ships traveling in the Gulf.

But according the the model that physicists have developed there was a 40% chance of the oil hitting Texas anyway. So really it was just a matter of time, and the time is now here.
:(

[sonias]

13. 2nd DNA test on second batch of tarballs - Deepwater is the daddy

AAS 7/6/10
Tar balls on Texas beaches are from Gulf oil spill

HOUSTON — Test results confirmed Tuesday that all the tar balls found over the weekend on beaches along the Texas Gulf Coast are from the Gulf oil spill, officials said.

Officials first announced Monday that five gallons of tar balls had been found Saturday on the Bolivar Peninsula — the first evidence that the gushing crude from the Deepwater Horizon well had reached all of the Gulf states.

About two gallons of tar balls were also found Sunday on the peninsula and nearby Galveston Island, located about 50 miles southeast of Houston. They were sent for testing to determine whether they also came from the ruptured well.

BP tarballs! :mad:

[sonias]

14. More oil may be headed toward Texas

San Antonio Express-News 7/7/10
More oil may be headed toward Texas

The 15 gallons of tar balls gathered from Texas beaches and attributed to the BP oil spill over the holiday weekend are a small fraction of what may be on the way — or is already here.

In addition, six barrels of weathered and sand-crusted oil cakes were scooped up at the McFaddin National Wildlife Refuge on Tuesday. The oil will be tested today to determine whether it, too, came from BP's Macondo well that blew out April 20.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is forecasting oil reaching Louisiana's coast less than 20 miles from the Texas state line by Thursday and scattered tar balls washing up on the Texas Coast as far west as Freeport.

"It could be that is all you will ever see," Doug Helton, incident operations coordinator with NOAA, said Tuesday. "It could be that you are far enough away."

That's the hope. Because the alternative, Helton explained, is that the oil will be pushed westward by the southeasterly winds that are blowing across the Gulf of Mexico and will start to pile up in Texas.

[timo]

15. coast guard says not true

http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/coast-guard-most-texas-567608.html

[sonias]

16. The bottom line is there are tar balls

Now that sounds a little bit suspicious. How did two lab tests before prove they were Deepwater Horizon tar balls and now all of a sudden they're not? Shoddy lab work on the first two runs?

I really do hope that no more oil finds it's way to Texas beaches, but I'm not convinced that none of it is BP's oil. Even lame wit Patterson says it's too early to absolve BP. Although Oily Joe Barton is preparing his apology call to BP right now.
:evilgrin:

Another story from KHOU News

KHOU 7/9/10
Coast Guard: Most Texas tar balls not from Deepwater Horizon spill

(snip)
Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson said he "wouldn’t jump too strongly" on the idea that most of the tar balls are not from the Gulf oil spill.

"What we’ve got here is we have tar balls from the oil spill as well as some not from the oil spill," he said. "The material that is from the Deepwater Horizon spill, I believe that the sum of it has drifted over here and is weathered and indicates that it’s been in transit for a while. That’s probably a result of hurricane activity."

All oil has a distinct DNA of chemicals and the government has a database of the different oils in the reservoirs where drilling and production is going on. Further testing should be able to help officials figure out the origin of the tar balls in Texas, Brahm said. If a match is not made, it is likely they are the result of natural seepages from the seabed.

Patterson said reports continue to come in about tar balls and oil, including an oily substance that was found on a Galveston beach Thursday and is still being tested.

"The bottom line is there are tar balls," Patterson said.

[onestepforward]

18. Sounds suspicious to me too.

A 20+ year resident on Crystal beach stated yesterday that she has never seen tar balls and oil like she is now.

There is a horrendous amount of spewed oil in the Gulf and most of it submerged below the surface. It is almost insane to think that some of that oil would not reach Texas at some point.

Further test results will be out soon, possibly today.

[sonias]

17. Oil from Deepwater on Texas beaches? No ... and yes

AAS 7/9/10
Oil from Deepwater on Texas beaches? No ... and yes
McFaddin tar balls - not Galveston's or Bolivar's - are the only ones linked to spill.

Tar balls associated with the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster have washed up on Texas beaches, just not the particular tar balls state and federal officials first fingered.

On Friday, the U.S. Coast Guard backed away from its claim that tar balls that appeared over the Fourth of July weekend on the shores of Galveston and the Bolivar Peninsula could be traced to the Deepwater Horizon spill. But in a confusing twist, the Coast Guard says that tar balls that showed up in McFaddin National Wildlife Refuge on July 5 are from the Deepwater spill.

On Monday, approximately 550 gallons of a mix of sand and oil were collected from McFaddin Beach, roughly 40 miles east of Galveston, according to the Coast Guard. The tar balls and patties at the site ranged from baseball-sized to 5-by-5-foot mats and were confirmed as a positive match by the government-contracted lab in Houma, La., and the Coast Guard's Marine Safety Lab in Connecticut.

It's not over. Sounds like the crap that showed up on McFaddin Beach was much bigger than what had been reported on Crystal Beach.

:kick:

[sonias]

20. Crude from Gulf oil spill found on 2nd Texas beach

AAS 1/13/10
Crude from Gulf oil spill found on 2nd Texas beach

HOUSTON — U.S. Coast Guard officials say test results have confirmed tar balls from the massive Gulf oil spill have been found on a second Texas beach.

Chief Warrant Officer Lionel Bryant said Tuesday that tar balls found on a Galveston beach last week are from the ruptured BP-operated Deepwater Horizon oil well.

(snip)

Last week, new laboratory results had officials backing off claims that many of the tar balls that had recently washed up on Texas shores were from the April 20 oil rig disaster. The confusion was attributed to contradictory test results from two labs.

Big lab confusion. :wtf:

It looks like both beaches - Crystal Beach and McFaddin Beach both have Deepwater doo doo. :(

[onestepforward]

21. I'm glad they cleared this up. n/t

[sonias]

22. Yep - why confuse the issue

Yes we see lots of tar balls regularly on Texas beaches. Why with so many abandoned wells in the Gulf it's a wonder the beaches aren't always black. :(

But how could they get it so wrong? I hope these labs aren't the labs that run DNA on people who get convicted on bad lab work.

[white cloud]

23. Looks like BP

Is already working a plan to sell, and hunting for a way to get out of paying for this spill before they even have the well capped.

Sure you can bet a sell will means capitalist screw the public (Republican party Hate Americas working class).

Maybe then these neo con on the gulf will not get there economic recovery help.

Why do Republicans hate progress in America and American Democrats??

G NO P

[sonias]

24. Its the republican form of capitalism

Privatized profits but socialized risk form of capitalism. The greedy corporations, banks and super rich keep all the money for themselves. Then they whine about "too big to fail" and "trickle down job creation economy" when they have to pay any taxes to pay for their messes. And they always get their way - someone else (you and me - the working middle class) ultimately pays for their risk and clean up their mistakes.

The republicans have no problem with that kind of socialism - everyone should share in the clean up costs.

:mad: