County: Middle Keys tar, oil not from the Gulf spill

[Skelly]

Source: Florida Keys Keynoter

Oily substances and tar balls found in the Middle Keys this week are not connected to the Deepwater Horizon/BP oil spill, Monroe County Emergency Management and the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary said Thursday afternoon.

Citing the U.S. Coast Guard as their source, Sanctuary Superintendent Sean Morton and Emergency Management Director Irene Toner "confirmed the Coast Guard’s earlier reports that tar balls and sheen in a canal on Duck Key were not from the Gulf oil spill," they said in a statement released Thursday.

<snip>

Shoreline assessment teams continue monitoring the shorelines for more possible tar balls. If detected, contracted crews will conduct cleanup operations.

In the past month, there have been 37 reports of tar balls in the Florida Keys, from Islamorada down to the Dry Tortugas. Samples found in each location were sent to the Marine Safety Laboratory for testing. None of those samples have been connected with the Deepwater Horizon/BP oil spill.

Read more: http://www.keysnet.com/2010/06/03/225550/county-middle-keys-tar-oil-not.html

---

The Monroe County Tourist Development Council reported 667 oil and petroleum incidents in the Keys in 2008 and 681 in 2009.

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/05/19/1636251/toxic-tar-balls-found-in-the-keys.html#ixzz0ptjWwe3e

As we prepare for a possible disaster, let us not turn fear into hysteria. We need tourism dollars now more than ever. Charter fisherman (and commercial) are still fishing the waters. Scuba and snorkel operations are still diving the reefs. Our beaches are still clean.

[nebenaube]

1. Yeah, right... n/t

[flamingdem]

3. +2

[amerfayed]

21. +1000... it is all a coincidence... back to snorkeling with no protection! n/t

[CountAllVotes]

2. ...

bullsh*t detector going off ... :nuke:

[notadmblnd]

4. Someone doing some illegal dumping?

[Skelly]

7. Some are

and always have. Other times, large freighters, cruise ships etc, clean their bilge and some oil escapes.
I live on a boat. I often see oil sheens. Now however, every possible drop of oil is being reported as from BP whereas before, they went unreported.

[flamingdem]

25. regardless you know it's coming to wreck the Florida beaches nt

[bdamomma]

5. yea sure.

[fascisthunter]

6. gee what a coincidence

so from this we can assume that we will see much more washing up on shore right!?

[meeshrox]

8. I did a quick survey yesterday when I heard about Duck Key...

The photos looked to me like the sheen you see in marinas. I'm in Key Largo on business and had the day off. So, I took a drive down to Key West and back to check out the beaches. They are as beautiful as ever!

Thanks for the update!

[Juneboarder]

10. I'm glad that the beaches you saw were beautiful as ever...

You should have gone for a swim. Afterall, it might have been your last opportunity at swimming in the gulf. :(

[meeshrox]

13. I thought about that...

The water was so warm...like bathwater. That's one of my fond memories from childhood, the water being so warm and calm. I may have to venture out again this evening... :)

[amerfayed]

22. are you crazy? skin does not protect you. look at the NOAA forecasts, they even admit

the oil spill is affecting the Keys

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7h5wMhKO19o

[Skelly]

26. doctored video

The video you link conveniently left out labels. That boundary is NOT the oil spill, but "Unknown" boundary.

Please see the correct version at:
http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com/posted/2931/os_forecast_20100606_1200CDT_20100603_1900CDT_rs.589491.pdf

But you are correct, the BP oil fiasco IS affecting the keys. People are canceling their vacations due to erroneous information.

Please do not kill us before we are dead. Miracles do happen. There may be a recovery yet.

[meeshrox]

29. Yes, agreed...

my other reply explains a little better about how the confusion likely occurred. Also, wanted to add that I didn't have you in mind when I mentioned the harsh language around here on DU. Just wanted to clarify in case it wasn't apparent enough!

And welcome to you, too! I love seeing the new "faces", so to speak. :hi:

[meeshrox]

28. So sorry, I think you are wrong.

Those are forecasts, not actual observations. Models have uncertainties built in, which is the black line. The more certain blue line shows what they are more confident about. As far as the skin comment, not sure what you mean. I know that skin will not protect you; it's very absorbent.

In any case, I want to welcome you to DU. I hope some of the harsh posts that you may encounter don't detract you from giving us your input from time to time. :hi:

[Juneboarder]

24. That sounds sooo tempting!!

My mother in law is from St. Pete and has always told me how wonderful the gulf waters are. I have never made it to the gulf, so I don't know other than hear-say how great it is. Please enjoy for me :)

[Juneboarder]

9. Considering...

Considering this is coming from the coast guards (those that take orders from BP), I don't believe this statement for one hot minute.

Sorry...

[Skelly]

18. See my response

to Kevin Mace.
Come visit us and see for yourself.

[Juneboarder]

23. I wish I could come and visit...

I wasn't trying to be rude in my comment above; just trying to say enjoy it while it is still pristine. It is sad and a shame to see what has been happening since 4/20/10. I would never wish for your/our waters to be damaged. This is a tragedy in the making...

[mikelgb]

11. Then where the fuck is it from?

I would bet there are some knowing that bp is in charge of all cleanup who are taking advantage of a free way to get rid of their hazardous waste on bp's dime

[meeshrox]

30. The photo I saw was from a marina or dock...

I don't know much about boats, but when they do something with their bilge pump, it leaks a little sheen. Please, if someone knows better, correct me. I know enough to be a decent deck-hand, but I'm terrible with the terminology.

Tarballs can be from passing tankers out to sea. They do a chemical analysis and can determine if it came from the leak or if it was from somewhere else. The trace elements come in different concentrations in different areas of the globe.

But, I think that you make a great point about someone dumping their waste. I have heard reports of people doing that, but more to make BP look bad. I guess they don't know that stuff can be traced to different sources than the leak.

[bulloney]

12. It's funny that we're learning that the ocean emits all kinds of oily, tar-like stuff all the time.

It's also funny that we never noticed this stuff washing up on the beaches until the recent BP disaster.

And I guess fish and birds are always covered with oily substance.

The corporate propaganda machine and its enablers in government must think the U.S. population has now been dumbed down enough that they can throw this BS at us and get away with it.

[RobinA]

14. What's Funny?

Ever been to the beach? A marina? All kinds of crap washed up all the time. I've seen tar balls on the beach on the east coast, and I go there once a year. Oil in marina? Every marina I've ever been to, and I haven't been to a lot. It's how after a plane crash we suddenly hear about every blown tire on a landing. Happens all the time, but you only hear about it when the media is in Air Disaster Mode.

Come to think about it, it's also like runaway Toyotas.

[Zenlitened]

16. I've lived on the East Coast most of my life, except for a brief stint on the West Coast...

...and have spent more hours and days at the ocean's edge than I can count.

I've never seen a tarball.

[Igel]

20. I haven't lived on the East Coast my entire life.

Just until I was 22. Went to Ocean City, MD, Cape May, various other places.

It wasn't common, but I'd run into crap as I played as a kid. Sticky black stuff. Tar balls. Or I'd dig, and find layers of black sand that was contaminated. Again, not often.

A tar ball need not be a ball. It's also not black. It's a lump that's coated with sand, and if it's in the intertidal zone you basically see them mostly buried. If it's washed up into the dunes it greatly resembles a piece of cat crap coated with litter. Over the course of weeks or months the tar hardens; then if the sand's rubbed off it'll start to look black, but then again if you step on it you can completely ignore it.

Now, in TX, I find more petroleum-related "stuff." Lumps of tar. Oil-coated sand. Some is from leakage from oil wells. Some is from leaking ships or boats or illegal dumping. And some is perfectly natural, because if the oil is close enough to the surface it's not hard for oil seeps to form. They existed in Pennsylvania and that's how Pennsylvania's oil drilling industry was born. (We don't hear much about that these days, I guess.)

In fact, the Atakapa Indians and other tribes on the resource-poor SE Texas coast used tar balls and similar stuff to line their clay pots for centuries in pre-Columbian times.

Until I read about the Atakapas I was unaware of natural oil seeps. For over 45 years. Not important. Then again, I was unaware of pit houses in Central Europe in post-Roman times, the use of hair-rings by Slavs in 600 AD, of the spread of cabbage through Northern Europe due to monastic culture, or the fact that carrots are probably originally from Afghanistan, chickens from Thailand or Cambodia, and that beans were domesticated in three different locations--Central America, the nothern Amazon basin, and in SE Europe or the Middle East.

[Zenlitened]

35. Nope. Oil-fouled beaches are not "normal." Let's not fall for that spin. - n/t

[meeshrox]

31. I grew up in Fort Lauderdale, spent my childhood on Hollywood beach

and I've gotten tar on the bottom of my feet plenty of times. Of course, it's never been more than a couple of pea-sized bits. But, it does happen.

[arikara]

19. I live on the west coast

where they haven't *yet* lifted a moratorium on off shore drilling and tanker traffic. I have never once seen a tar ball. Garbage tossed out from boats, yes... and that is bad enough thank you very much. We don't need any suffering oiled animals and beaches here, or disgusting tar balls either.

[Kelvin Mace]

15. Given that the Coast Guard is now the paid lackey of BP

I will require another source for this assurance.

[Skelly]

17. Then come to the Keys

This is really a 'small town'. Talk to my friends, the commercial fisherman, the charter captains, the workers at the Dolphin Research Center, the employees of the wildbird rescue center, the owners of the local dive shops.
When (and if...we are always hopeful)the oil from BP reaches our shores, they will be the first to yell. And yell loud.
As of yet, it is not here. They, and the hundreds of local business owners, would appreciate being able to continue with their businesses until that time.
Unfortunately, every erroneous headline that proclaims BP oil in the Keys, causes countless cancellations.

[Kelvin Mace]

27. I am so sorry

this is happening. I really don't wish this on anyone, but I am very skeptical of everything I hear from the "authorities" since they have pretty much been mouthpieces for BP. When you have an oil company that gets the Coast Guard to threaten reporters with arrest for doing their job on PUBLIC land, well, you see where that leaves us.

[Owl]

32. No need to worry, it's just the normal everyday tar-ball crap. Everything's fine. Relax.

[Zenlitened]

36. LOL. So many perceptions to be managed, so little time.

:D

[defendandprotect]

33. k

[mikelgb]

34. delete