Tar Balls Originating From Gulf Oil Spill Cover Pensacola Beach
June 24th, 2010 - 7:32 pm ICT by Pen Men At Work
June 24, 2010 (Pen Men at Work): The Gulf Oil spill has started showing its worse effects. Tuesday night, eight miles of Pensacola beach got covered with tar balls, which originated from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. This will affect the effort of managing the Gulf oil spill in the state.
The tar balls mixed with seashells covered a huge area of the Pensacola Beach. The oil spill is continuing to wash the shore along the Gulf of Mexico to Florida.
Heidi Grace, a visitor from New Orleans informed, “Last night, my friends went for swimming but they come out with their whole body covered in oil. It’s a heartbreaking condition and I could not stop crying.”
The Pensacola beach is one of the most popular holiday destinations in the US. The petroleum experts said that the same scene of tar balls can appear again in the coming days. The distant offshore oil spill coming closer to the home of the Florida Gulf Coast may change the intensity of dealing with it.
The arrival of the tar balls made the health advisories much strict as swimming and fishing were asked to stop in 33 more miles around the area.
On Wednesday, several workers came out in protective clothing to scoop up the oil and orange-tinged sand using shovels. People were taking sunbaths around the beach but no one dared to go in the water. On the same morning, the Gov. Charlie Crist visited the beach and said that more skimmers are called up.
An oiled juvenile dolphin was found by a family, which was handed over to the wildlife officers, said Bobbie Visnovske, a park ranger. The park rangers helped to rescue the dolphin. They tried to transport it to a rehabilitation center but it died on the way.
Late Tuesday evening, the Bay County got the permit to start sinking steel pilings into the pass, according to Mark Bowen, the Emergency Services Director. As per the official estimation, the blockade will take about three weeks to complete. It will have 400-foot-wide gate, which will open to traffic only with the outgoing tides.
Outside the pass, two floating boat refining stations are set up outside the pass, U.S. Coast Guard Cmdr. Mike Frender said.
- Tar Balls Arrive At Pensacola Beach, Kill Dolphin - Jun 24, 2010
- Florida Keys tar balls not linked to BP oil leak - May 19, 2010
- Despite tar balls, Florida beaches remain open to the public - Jul 11, 2010
- Oil Leak Disseminates To Florida Keys - May 19, 2010
- Oil From Leak Has Possibly Reached Key West In Florida - May 19, 2010
- Gulf Oil Spill: Tar Balls Wash Up On Shore - May 16, 2010
- Tar Balls Unearthed At A Beach In St. Johns County In Florida Unlikely To Have Stemmed From The Gulf Oil Spill - Jul 11, 2010
- Tar balls reach Lake Pontchartrain - Jul 06, 2010
- Majority Of Tar Balls Found In Texas Unrelated To BP Oil Spill - Jul 11, 2010
- BP Oil Spill Within 7 Miles of Pensacola Beach Florida - Jun 02, 2010
- Sunken ship spewing less oil, say maritime authorities - Aug 09, 2011
- Beaches hit by tar balls, Goa tracking rogue vessels - May 24, 2011
- BP places 'top cap' over leak - Jun 06, 2010
- BP oil leak reaches the shores of Florida Keys - May 19, 2010
- US to battle oil leak for 'months to come' - Jun 07, 2010
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