Coast Guard Reports Discovery of Tar Balls at State Park

KEYS TOURISM ADVISORY 12 May 18, 2010 • 8 AM EDT

News and Information From the Monroe County Tourist Development Council

Coast Guard Reports Discovery of Tar Balls at State Park: Source Not Identified

Late Monday night, officials at U.S. Coast Guard Key West Sector distributed a news release regarding the discovery of 20 tar balls found earlier in the day by Florida State Park rangers on the beach at Key West’s Fort Zachary Taylor State Park.

While the Coast Guard did not identify the source of the tar balls, several media outlets have already concluded they came from the Transocean/BP spill in the northern Gulf of Mexico.

The Coast Guard is shipping the tar balls to a laboratory for analysis to determine the actual origin of source, which is not known at this time, according to Captain Pat DeQuattro, the commander of the Key West Sector.

By early Monday evening, Coast Guard pollution investigators completed a subsequent shoreline survey of the Fort Zachary area and no additional tar balls were found.

Later today, officials from the Coast Guard and Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary are to conduct shoreline surveys to determine if any additional tar balls are present. The Coast Guard is also scheduled to conduct an aerial survey.

We hope to have an update later today, after Coast Guard and Sanctuary officials complete their surveys.
The public is asked to phone in sightings of any tar balls to the Coast Guard at 1-800-424-8802. Tar balls are considered hazardous materials and should only be retrieved by trained personnel, officials said.
Meanwhile, as of late Monday, officials continue to say oil from the northern Gulf spill is not in the Loop Current.

"The oil has not entered the Loop Current at this time," said Coast Guard Rear Admiral Mary Landry at a news conference in Robert, La., Monday afternoon. "A leading edge (of the) sheen is getting close to it, but it has not entered the Loop Current."

Notes in NOAA’s oil slick trajectory forecast for Thursday, May 20, point out: “As the winds weaken, ocean models indicate that any tar balls leading the southern edge of the plume could begin moving more to the SW and potentially into the Loop Current.”

Spill-related websites, primarily focusing on affected areas, include:

http://www.dep.state.fl.us/deepwaterhorizon/default.htm • http://www.noaa.gov

http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com
TDC website with spill-related information for visitors: http://www.fla-keys.com