Galveston under the gun
Texas tar balls: Sign of oil spill disaster to come or overblown?
This is example of what a cluster of tar balls look like on a beach.
The tar balls found in Texas weren't nearly this large.
With the Coast Guard confirming the first cases of oil spill tar balls on Texas beaches, there is plenty of concern over whether the Deepwater Horizon disaster is going to keep hitting even closer to home.
About five gallons of tar balls were discovered on the Bolivar Peninsula northeast of Galveston and another two gallons were found on Galveston Island over the holiday weekend. Some of the tar balls came in at the size of ping pong balls. They have been determined to be BP spill tar balls by testing.
No one's exactly sure how the tar balls landed on the Texas beaches. There's debate over whether the tar spread by hitching a ride on ships or if the oil residue traveled this far (400 miles plus) on its own.
Either way, Galveston mayor Joe Jaworski told the Associated Press that he believes the relatively tiny amount of tar bars are more happenstance than happening. "This is good news," Jaworski said. "The water looks good. We're cautiously optimistic this is an anomaly."
It took a couple of buckets for the Texas tar balls to be cleaned up. Tar balls themselves — unrelated to the oil spill — are a not an uncommon occurrence on Texas beaches.
What do you think? Are you worried that Texas beaches will be under an increasing assault of tar balls in the future or worse from the spill? Or, do you think it's a whole lot of blaring headlines over a minor incident?
If you want to know what's happening in the heart of the oil spill disaster, stay tuned to CultureMap for Katie Oxford's continuing on-the-ground and in-the-boats reports from Louisiana. Katie will have another installment on Wednesday of the type of personal reporting you cannot find anywhere else.
