Coast Guard: Tar balls found in Keys not from BP spill

Tar balls discovered on the Florida Keys shoreline are not connected to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the Coast Guard said Wednesday.

Tests done "conclusively show" that the tar balls found on the shoreline do not match the type of oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The source of the tar balls remains unknown at this time.

CNN article

........................

Coast Guard officials said the tar balls were being recovered at a rate of nearly three an hour throughout the day, but they aren't sure where they came from.

Government scientists who surveyed the Gulf on Tuesday said tendrils of light oil were near or already in a powerful current that could take it to Florida. The loop current circulates in the Gulf and takes water south to the Florida Keys and the Gulf Stream.

Local Florida new station story
Yes. I know part of this is from CNN, and that just helps reinforce my point here.

If this many tar balls are coming ashore, and they are not from the Deepwater Horizon spill, then just where are they coming from?
OR do they not match the current chemical makeup from the Deepwater spill because these came around before the dispersant was shot into the ocean?

This has been predicted for weeks that oil would reach the Keys, and when it does it is conveniently decided it is not from that spill. We can't have BP responsible for ruining all of the fishing off of Florida too can we?

This is utter bull. Unless there is another massive oil leak out in the gulf somewhere....

When I first saw this report on television, they were already putting in a disclaimer that these tar balls show up from time to time from unknown sources. Regardless of that supposed fact, I knew that the main stream media sources would say it wasn't from the leak. Plausible deniability, is that the word for this? Cover-up more accurately I would think. I remember reading about naturally occurring crude oil slicks in the Gulf of Mexico sometime after the Alaska oil disaster. I will look this up to jog my memory.

reply to post by MichiganSwampBuck

Yeah. They know it is within like 25 miles of the West coast of Florida now. 3-4 tar balls an hour is a ridiculous number to expect as a random event. It has to be from the same place.

This one has sent my conspiracy nut spidey senses tingling!

There's the obvious, "how much did BP pay for them to report this?" theory, which is the most obvious really, but also, what if this didn't come from the BP spill? Where the hell else could it have come from?

The deepwater disaster tarball's are easily identifiable.. they carry the BP logo

/sarcasm

This seems suspect at best, they could be correct who knows, but it seems odd that they would make sure to indicate that these ARE NOT associated with the BP mess..

Here is another article I found from the Miami Herald. It seems to me like they do not believe the Coast Guards assessment of the tar. Miami Herald

That article states that yes, tar balls are often found along coastal waters. However, many Key West residents interviewed said they never remember seeing this many.

It started at 20 tar balls Tuesday morning and by Tuesday night it had risen to 50. I do not see how an increase of 30 tar balls over 12 hours can be a random event.

We need to stop sending these samples to the Coast Guard. Send them to independent researchers elsewhere.

Apparently even Cuba has opened unofficial relations with the US over this and how to react when the oil reaches their shores.

Governor Crist was on the Radio yesterday and being very evasive, sarcastic, and a little funny. He said that over 600 tar balls washed up on Florida shores last year. He didn't say any of them hit the Keys though!

I suspect that Tar Balls do wash up from time to time, but 3 per hour at about the same time that the oil slick is confirmed in the Gulf Loop Current heading South seems very very suspicious.

Also, the oil is breaking down into components. Lighter components are floating to the surface, medium components are creating these so-called underwater columns, and the heavier components are rolling with the current, picking up debris and eventually hitting the sea floor or the sea shore.

Sure, these tarballs are not the "exact" same thing coming out of the tube, but they are likely some component of that leak. I know that I have never ever heard of tar balls hitting beaches in the Keys!

My best guess...

This is to minimize any litigation..

"No soup for you!, those tarballs couldn't have come from our little bitty mess, we have the chemical analysis right here your honor!"

My memory is now jogged. I googled "natural oil" "gulf of mexico" and found "natural oil seeps in the Gulf of Mexico" first up. I was stunned that the web wasn't all tied up with the leak.

"
Natural Oil Seeps in the Gulf of Mexico
A NASA Earth Observatory news release from February 3, 2009

Although accidents and hurricane damage to infrastructure are often to blame for oil spills and the resulting pollution in coastal Gulf of Mexico waters, natural seepage from the ocean floor introduces a significant amount of oil to ocean environments as well. "

geology.com...

reply to post by getreadyalready


An excerpt from the above Miami Herald article says:

As if to reassure, a statement from Tallahassee noted that just last year there were 681 reports of ``oil and petroleum incidents along Florida's waterways and beaches,'' advising ``these types of occurrences are not as unusual as one might think.''

Not just tarballs. this includes everything from simply reports filed at marinas by a drunk boat owner spilling gasoline over the gunwales of his boat, to tankers leaking fuel to random tar ball incidents.

No where can I find anything about that many tar balls in a single day. And they are still coming ashore....

Noo!! REALLY? THEY ARE NOT RELATED TO THE LEAK? who woulda thunk it?

According to the Minerals Management Service, a United States government entity, tar and tar seepage are natural parts of the environment. It is evidenced that oil, tar and gas have occurred throughout the coastlines for thousands of years, and are particularly prevalent along the California coastline due to its mountainous regions. Scientists often cannot tell the difference between oil from naturally-occurring seeps and oil from offshore spills. Along the California coastline, there is a large amount of oil seeping naturally from the rocks under the ocean. environmentalism.suite101.com...

Ever seen one of the tarballs they are finding? they look like asphalt and like they have been buried for years.
Here is a picture of one.
soundwaves.usgs.gov...

They have always been around its just now the MSM reporters are going through beaches with a fine tooth comb looking for anyting to report and scare you with.

oooh! tar balls...woooo! scary tar balls!! run!!!

I was half expecting them to come out and say that the tarballs were actually a form of new black tar herion that was coming from a botched drug deal in the gulf. But, thats wishful thinking I guess. I would rather it be from drug smugglers than a second leaking well, especially since we have no real knowledge of where this stuff is coming from.

This made me think of that old TV commercial where the Indian is up on a hill and he is shedding a single tear because we are destroying our earth. **Sigh** We are really killing our host planet, and it hurts me to think of the destruction we have caused and will continue to cause.

Fry

reply to post by frey51

And to prove a point that all conservationalism is a farce, the indian in the commercial was actually a round eye.

www.snopes.com...

[edit on 19-5-2010 by Just Wondering]

reply to post by webpirate


Thumbs up to you !

You handled the OP so much better than I would have. I think I might have gone on a full-blown rant!

Gulf oil now in powerful Loop Current, scientists say

news.bbc.co.uk...

Originally posted by Just Wondering
And to prove a point that all conservationalism is a farce, the indian in the commercial was actually a round eye.

www.snopes.com...
[edit on 19-5-2010 by Just Wondering]

Ahhh, I was not aware of that, interesting factoid.

Natural Seepage does occur, and is basically harmless. There have been reports of the natural tar balls even before the industrialization of crude oil. However, those tar balls are common on the Western Side of the Gulf and unheard of in the Caribbean. Also, they typically wash up sporadically 1 at a time, and maybe a little more activity after a Tropical Storm.

We haven't had any Tropical Storms. The Tar Balls don't ever go to South Florida. In 10 years I have never seen or even heard of one along the panhandle of Florida anywhere. If there were 1 here and there that I happened to miss, it still would not be 3 per hour for a number of days like we have now.

If it looks like a duck and smells like a duck, and quacks like a duck, and and shows up on your lawn right after the ducks have escaped-immediately after the ducks are confirmed in your neighborhood, then I am pretty sure it is a duck!

For everyone out there who still doubts that this has full blown GLOBAL implications. Let me say this.

This rig was in the Tiber Oilfield.

The Tiber oilfield is a deepwater offshore oilfield in the Gulf of Mexico, discovered by BP in September 2009.

Described as a "giant" find, it is estimated to contain 4 to 6 billion barrels (640×10^6 to 950×10^6 m3) of oil in place, although BP states it is too early to be sure of the size - a "huge" field is usually considered to contain 250 million barrels (40×10^6 m3).

It required the drilling of a 10,685-metre (35,056 ft) deep well under 1,260 metres (4,130 ft) of water, making it one of the deepest wells drilled at the time of discovery (the drilling rig's owner states "the deepest ever".)

Size of oil field

It is so deep, and the oil AND GAS are under immense pressure. I read somewhere that the opening where the oil is coming out from is over 75,000 pounds of pressure per square inch.

Here is an image of how the currents flow in this area, as well as the oil prediction.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/43ff5143d185.jpg[/atsimg]

The idea there can't already be some oil in this area is just utter BS.

Everyone needs to open their eyes to this right now. This is not going to end anytime soon.

reply to post by webpirate


Sea Water and Atmospheric pressure at the depth of the leak is approximately 2400 p.s.i. The leak was reported to have about 30 psi of positive pressure.

At this point though who knows. All of their estimates are either sloppy, or skewed, or intentionally hidden. It could be anything, and we wouldn't know.

Our so-called experts are still relying on Satellite Imagery to estimate the size of the spill when they have to know that the vast majority of the oil is below the surface!

Our so-called experts are still wondering "if" it will get into the Gulf Loop and the North Atlantic Current, when they know full well that it is already there!

Our so-called experts are barely even mentioning the fact that 1000's of tons of liquified Methane Gas is disbursing along the sea floor just waiting for an explosive opportunity.

Our so-called experts still think that unprecedented amounts of dispersants pumped into an already disasterous scenario is a good idea!

One Earthquake Rumble (yes the Gulf gets Earthquakes), or good Tropical storm will release an unprecedented amount of toxicity, gas, explosive material, and carry this oil world wide!

How about they stop speculating and downplaying and press-releasing, and they start WORKING!!