TEXAS CITY, Texas - July 6, 2010 - More than two months after oil from BP's blown-out seafloor well first reached Louisiana, a bucket's worth of tar balls that washed onto a Texas beach means the crude has arrived in every Gulf state.
Oil is still on the move, but the fleet of skimmers tapped to clean the worst hit areas of the Gulf of Mexico is not. A string of storms has made the water too choppy for the boats to operate for more than a week off Florida, Alabama and Mississippi, even though the gusher continues.
The number of tar balls discovered in Texas is tiny compared to what has coated beaches in other Gulf states. Still, it provoked the quick dispatch of cleaning crews and a vow that BP PLC will pay for the trouble.
"Any Texas shores impacted by the Deepwater spill will be cleaned up quickly and BP will be picking up the tab," Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson said in a news release.
