Officials have confirmed that tar balls discovered over the holiday weekend on Crystal Beach in the Bolivar Peninsula are from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, marking the first time oil from the spill has been found on Texas beaches.
About 10-12 tar balls washed up on Crystal Beach on Saturday. On Sunday, 5 gallons of oil were also found on the same beach.
The tar balls ranged from the size of a dime to a golf ball.
After workers cleaned the beach, the tar balls and oil were sent to labs to be analyzed. Officials confirmed that the oil was from the Deepwater Horizon spill.
However, officials said the makeup of the oil was not consistent with having traveled 400 miles in the ocean. Investigators are looking it into the possibility that the oil might have been carried on the side of a ship or in the bilge of a ship that had taken in water.
