Tar Balls Wash Ashore in Texas (Updated)
[Guest post by DRJ]
A Texas official says tar balls from the BP oil spill have washed ashore near Galveston.
The Texas oil spill response plan for the Galveston Bay area is here and the master Gulf plan is here (NOTE: Both are .pdf links). As Commissioner Patterson states, Texas officials consistently forecast that any oil in Texas would be in the form of tar balls:
“Any oil reaching Texas shores is expected to be in the form of weathered tar balls, which cannot be prevented by boom deployment and would necessitate aggressive physical removal. Texas’ General Land Office (GLO) has five coastal offices equipped with boats, 4×4 trucks, trailers, ATVs, and skimmers available for response activities. Silt curtains could be deployed to protect washouts.
“The Texas GLO’s Oil Spill Prevention and Response Program is well equipped and well trained,” Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson said. “We know this could have happened off the Texas coast, so we’re ready on any given day for a spill.”
Meanwhile, initial tests of the A Whale skimmer were inconclusive because of rough seas:
“After an initial 48-hour testing period, results remain inconclusive in light of the rough sea state we are encountering,” said Bob Grantham, spokesman for the company. “Over this same period, very few other skimmers have even been deployed. Therefore, working in close coordination with the US Coast Guard, we will be undertaking an additional testing period to make operational and technological adjustments aimed at improving skimming effectiveness given the actual conditions we are encountering in the Gulf.”
Anyone get the feeling this testing period may last until the well is capped? On the other hand, the government has made one firm decision: The Obama Administration will take over control of Gulf oil spill central information website.
— DRJ
UPDATED 7/10/2010: For a change, there’s good news for BP. Lab tests show most of the Texas tar balls weren’t from the BP oil spill after all.
So its official.
They have messed with Texas.
BP and the Obama administration will rue this day.
(sorry to joke, but what else is there to say?)
Aaron Worthing (A.W.) (f97997) — 7/5/2010 @ 3:45 pmThat’s a good one, A.W. On a serious note, I doubt many Texans are too upset about this. Dealing with problems are part of doing business. I’m confident the response teams are getting this taken care of, and I bet BP would much rather deal with that than being demonized every day.
DRJ (d43dcd) — 7/5/2010 @ 3:48 pmIt just doesn’t feel right to get too bent out of shape over this when other states are getting hit worse and were already in worse shape to start with.
The real disaster hitting Texas is, of course, the drilling moratorium and other economically devastating policies in the pipeline.
I keep thinking about the mid 80s in Houston with the oil industry.
Dustin (b54cdc) — 7/5/2010 @ 3:55 pmTo paraphrase:
Barak Obama doesn’t care about white people.
Arizona Bob (e8af2b) — 7/5/2010 @ 4:37 pmWhere others fail, Texas succeeds.
The Patriot Ace mandates that every state must have a plan for either natural or man-made disasters. Once again, the abilities of the Democrats and Republicans are shown in sharp contrast.
I have no doubts that the Lone Star State is fully prepared for this disaster, as it was after Katrina:
Luthien Ivey (2f6891) — 7/5/2010 @ 4:46 pmTexas, it’s a whole ‘nuther country. 🙂
Tar Balls In Texas!
AD - RtR/OS! (6e3949) — 7/5/2010 @ 4:56 pmJust another day at the beach; but, let those tar balls wash up on a Mexican beach, impacting poor, melinan-deprived victims of Yankee Imperialism, and all Hell is going to break loose.
AD - RtR/OS! (6e3949) — 7/5/2010 @ 5:07 pmdeprived…enhanced…I don’t know how to put this delicately, but Galveston isn’t exactly La Jolla anyway.
Dustin (b54cdc) — 7/5/2010 @ 7:20 pmBarack Obama doesn’t care about
whitepeople.— There. Fixed that for ya.
Icy Texan (4fa53c) — 7/6/2010 @ 1:41 amWatch out for the tar baby Br’er Rabbit!
Richard (ebf58a) — 7/6/2010 @ 4:30 amNeed to start a business selling bottled tarballs, and small bags of feathers.
Call it a political appreciation toolkit.
We’ll make millions!
NavyspyII (df615d) — 7/6/2010 @ 5:55 amum, on the “A Whale” story, why do they need to test it. Am i missing something. at worst it “won’t work” right? It won’t actually make it worse, right? i mean that’s hard to imagine how its possible to be even worse.
I mean if it is seeking government money, then i have a simple solution: pay them by the gallon of oil.
but i don’t understand the need for “testing” before deployment.
Aaron Worthing (A.W.) (e7d72e) — 7/6/2010 @ 6:57 amI don’t know how to put this delicately, but Galveston isn’t exactly La Jolla anyway
Shows it has some redeeming qualities.
AD - RtR/OS! (1087df) — 7/6/2010 @ 11:21 am