Large Tar Balls Wash Ashore in Vero Beach, Officials Deny BP Oil Spill Link

[salazarmms]

Source: WPTV Channel 5 in West Palm Beach

Lifeguard says he's never seen anything like these slimy, rust-colored tar balls in 8 years on duty.

Read more: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yE_2E09-XAY

[Warpy]

1. Ugh. That undergound plume must've entered the Gulf Stream

far faster than anyone anticipated.

I wonder what Limbag will say about the ocean's ability to take care of oil blowouts now.

Oh, right, it's all Obama's fault. He should have swum down there on the first day with a cork between his teeth and plugged it.

[tosh]

4. Limpo...Palm Beach...

may his pool be filled with petro-slime. While he's in it.

[JBoy]

2. Yup. Can't be from BP. Must be from some other oil disaster.

:eyes:

[Xithras]

17. Most of the oil in the ocean comes from the land.

The stuff coats our roads. It rains, gets washed down the gutters, and out to sea. Then you also get the jackasses (and there are millions of them) who dump their oil down the storm drains instead of recycling it. That oil ends up in the ocean too. A few years back they caught some guy running an unlicensed garage near me, who was dumping old motor oil into the storm drains by the 50 gallon barrel. And I won't even get started on the losers who dump chemicals, tar, and other construction debris into the waterways because it's cheaper than paying to dump it legally. :grr:

Sadly, the assumption that the oil came from elsewhere doesn't even stretch credibility. People dump this kind of crap into the water every single day.

[daleo]

20. Perhaps there is a background level of tarballs

But that should be easy enough to filter out, via statistical methods, as long as the background signal is known. It should become obvious pretty soon.

[dipsydoodle]

21. The balls were sent off for immediate identication

to see if the signature matched that of oil from the current leak. Shouldn't take them light years to get an answer and if it does match then it does and if it don't then some here will say the result was fixed.

[onenote]

40. tests establish Key West tar balls not from the BP site

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/05/19/coast-guard-tar-balls-on-florida-keys-not-from-gulf-oil-spill/

That doesn't necessarily mean the Vero Beach tar balls are from another site, but its reason not to assume (yet) that every time tar balls appear along the florida or east coast shorelines that its from the BP mess.

[CC]

3. Was good to see so many agencies

act so fast to see what was going on. Sounds like they are doing the right thing by not laying blame before looking into it too. I hope it isn't from the BP spill because bad as having unknown tar balls show up I shudder to think what it will mean if it is from that spill. I don't think Disney can carry the whole state of Florida's tourism and they have enough problems post Bush brothers as it is.




Edited to add- It may be a bit of wishful thinking on agencies part that leads them into looking further and it may be the same on my part. I hope Fl. has enough sane people left in state govt. to watch out for its interest.

[Uncle Joe]

6. Well it's like the verse in the Disney Anthem,

"It's a small world after all" and I believe the Gulf just got made smaller.

[CC]

8. I think I added the

wishful thinking part while you posted. At least it is making national news. Just saw a clip on it.


After 8 years of Bush crony run agencies I still am happy to see them show up and show up fast.

[Uncle Joe]

10. I agree re: current government action as compared to that of the Bush crony era and

I believe you have some pretty pets there.:hi:

[CC]

14. Thank you on the pets.

All but one was a rescue. The downside on them is the baby is 7 (and a ferret so really old) and some with the ills that come with being elderly so reminding me they are nearer the end of life than the beginning.


Just looked at you profile...hope you were missed by the flooding there and that Nashville is recovering though know it can take a long time. My heart is with all there.

[Uncle Joe]

16. The water came within 10 ft of the back of my home but I dodged a bullet,

thanks for asking.

Many people weren't so lucky.:(

I believe May has already broken the all time record for the most rain to fall in a single month in Nashville and/or Middle Tennessee.

[CC]

28. Good it missed you even if only

by a few feet. I feel for everyone there. Some of us are paying attention though have to admit this year coming close to getting a form of disaster fatigue. Seems like they hit one on top of another. Then I think about being in the disaster and just feel for those affected. Afraid that we might have to get used to them happening more and more, specially weather related ones.

[lark]

30. Nope, sure don't

We have a very large Republican majority state government that are very close to the Tea Partiers. Expect no sanity or truth from them.

[SharonAnn]

39. Yes, Gov. Bredesen just vetoed (again) the GOP "Guns in Bars" bill by quoting the NRA

NASHVILLE - Gov. Phil Bredesen on Tuesday vetoed a renewed effort to allow Tennessee handgun carry permit holders to bring their weapons into bars and restaurants that serve alcohol.

The Democratic governor said in a letter to Republican Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey of Blountville that he based his decision on a principle he learned more than 50 years ago in a safety course sponsored by the National Rifle Association: "Guns and alcohol don't mix."

...

"The General Assembly has essentially re-passed last year's legislation in an even more expansive and dangerous form," Bredesen said in the letter. "For this reason, I cannot sign this measure into law."

Ramsey, who is running for governor, said he expects the Senate to vote to override the veto next week.

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2010/may/19/bredesen-vetoes-guns-in-spots-that-serve-booze/

[Uncle Joe]

5. I suspect there will be so much washing ashore, denial will become impossible.

Thanks for the thread, salazarmms.

[Newest Reality]

7. Attack of the Alien Tar Balls! - NT

[Jefferson23]

9. How wonderful, no matter where the source, how disgusting. Hey kiddies

now you can build a tar ball castle!

[calimary]

11. Sorry, I just can't help but think that if Al Gore had served his rightful terms as President

from January 2001 to January 2009, perhaps this would never have happened. I can't imagine an Al Gore administration appointing that huge load of industry foxes to guard all the regulator henhouses.

:(

[lark]

31. I have that thought all the time

How much more sane would the world be if we didn't have those 8 hideous lost years that were stolen by the BFEE.

[calimary]

37. I can think of at least four to five THOUSAND of our fighting forces who'd still

be alive at this moment.

Shit... don't get me started. What a setback that's been for the global village. At least eight years we've lost, and all that would have gone into those years. The wise leadership we didn't get. The lying weasels we did get.

[Lochloosa]

12. And in case you did not know. Vero Beach is on the EAST Side of Florida.

[intheflow]

19. thanks for the map.

I didn't know that. I predicted last night that it would start showing up all along the east coast within the next few months, but now I'm going to revise that and say we can probably say goodbye to Maryland crabcakes starting in the next two weeks. And maybe Maine lobster after that. :(

[Lochloosa]

26. Maybe not. Here's another map. The flow might head out to Europe

before getting your crabs. Now the Outer Banks in NC are not going to have those beautiful white beaches anymore.

The Gulf Steam.

[amerfayed]

27. Do you know the date on this map?

the gulfstream does fluctuate... this looks like it goes up to the coast of Vero. Thanks

[Lochloosa]

34. The stream comes very close to the coast of Vero. I've fished the waters all my life.

It pushes off the coast around Daytona, FL and stays out about 40-50 miles till it reaches the Outer Banks. That is why the there is such good fishing up there. (up there from me..Jacksonville) From there is heads to Europe. I don't see any impact above NC for the US.

[intheflow]

29. Well, I considered that.

However, it's all interconnected, isn't it? Critters that live close to shore are part of the same food chain of critters living further out. Not to mention things like Nor'easters and hurricanes traveling up the coast and tidal currents and ships bring in water from further out. And if you look at the Gulf Loop Current, areas like Tampa are being impacted even though the current is further away from the shoreline than the Gulf Stream Current is from, say, the Maryland coast. I'm thinking there's going to be trouble in River Cities above North Carolina from this.

[Lochloosa]

35. I don't agree. Look at the map again.

The current "throws" oil towards Tampa vs. Maryland. IMO the oil will stay off the coast above NC and head toward Europe. I think Maryland is safe.

[intheflow]

36. I hope you're right.

I've spent some time on the Maryland coast area and it breaks my heart to think of the oil on those shores.

I'm very sorry about your coast, Lochloosa. My best friend lives on Fernandina Beach, one of the most naturally beautiful places I've ever been. I truly hope it won't be that bad. Here are some of photos I took when I was there:

The marshlands are home to a vide host of birds.


Pelicans


Ospreys nesting on a phone pole beside the road bordering the wetlands.


Roseate Spoonbill


Gorgeous sunsets every night


Gorgeous sunrises every morning

[Uncle Joe]

41. That's a good visual map of how temperature flows with the ocean, Lochloosa.

:thumbsup:

[Dr.Phool]

13. Everyone was looking at the slick on the surface.

That one is steered by the winds.

Nobody knew about the huge plumes beneath the surface. Those are directed by the currents.

Just my guess, but I think those plumes got into the loop current faster than anyone realized.

[IndianaGreen]

32. I think you are right, it is the oil plumes that got to the Loop current

perhaps a week ago.

[flyarm]

15. Government to Oil Plume Discovery Team: Shut Up

on Tamap news over 2 weeks ago they said the oil had gotten to the Loop Current..so this does not surprise me..over government is just doing their damnest to censor what is really going on..and that ought to piss of every American..our government leaders on both sides of the isle are up to their eyeballs in this ..count on that!

Government to Oil Plume Discovery Team: Shut Up | The Seminal

http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/48816#

Government to Oil Plume Discovery Team: Shut Up
By: Jim White Tuesday May 18, 2010 6:06 am


The research vessel Pelican. (photo: Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium)

On Saturday, the New York Times brought the world’s attention to the discovery by a team of researchers on the the vessel Pelican that there are large underwater plumes of oil emanating from the Deepwater Horizon spill. Remarkably, the response of the government to the attention focused on this discovery has been to tell the researchers to stop granting interviews with the press. At the same time, the blog on which the researchers had been providing updates has also fallen silent since Saturday.

Pensacola television station WEAR filed a report (video at the link) on the oil plume and broke the news about the scientists being muzzled by the government:

Over the weekend, a research crew from the University of Southern Mississippi found evidence that there are 3 to 5 plumes… About 5 miles wide, 10 miles long and 3 hundred feet in depth.

But after giving that information to the press, the lead researcher now says he has been asked by the federal government… Which funds his research… To quit giving interviews until further testing is done.

What an interesting change of course for the government. Even the government’s website on the Deepwater Horizon response had been touting the mission of the Pelican as recently as May 6:

[slackmaster]

18. Yuk. Just like Southern California in 1969.

:argh:

[Bragi]

22. Probably just naturally occuring oil blobs

As you know, dispersed oil droplets created by nature's own oil refinery on the seabed often get together and say: "Hey, let's do a tar ball." It's nothing to be alarmed about.

And it's reasonable to assume that the lifeguard hasn't seen this ever before over 8 years because, ah, he's been sleeping a lot on the job.

Go ahead, ask me anything.

[amerfayed]

23. and the rusty/red colored oil... it may also

remind you of something weve seen on the news out of the gulf lately...

[cdsilv]

24. tarballs also originate when ships flush bilgewater out into the sea....

...as bilgewater is often contaminated with oil.

But I suspect that these are from the gusher in the gulf.

[paparush]

25. Can't we collect them all and mail them to Sarah Palin?

[24601]

33. Mail them to the top 10 congressional recipients of oil company

campaign contributions.

[Odin2005]

38. East Florida? UGH!!!

:(