Texas cleaning up oil blobs on South Padre Island pictures

Texas cleaning up oil blobs on South Padre Island images
1.
Image descriptions
1. Blobs of oil are seen on the beach at South Padre Island, Texas, Thursday, July 23, 2009. Officials are working to determine the source of the oil that began appearing on the beach Wednesday. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Gooey oil blobs as big as basketballs have been washing up on the sandy beaches of South Padre Island in Texas, officials said Thursday.

The Texas General Land Office said it doesn't know what is causing the tar-like blobs, but authorities were working to clean up the popular tourist destination. Beaches have not been closed.

Crews "scooped out a bunch of tar balls on the beach," agency spokesman Jim Suydam told The Associated Press. "We're doing analysis of the currents to track it back to the source as well as collecting some of the tar balls for chemical analysis to see where it came from."

At least seven 55-gallon drums of oil have been removed since Wednesday morning after tourists began ...

Related newspaper, magazine, and journal articles:

 
 
Newsweek Harper's Magazine The Washington Post Chicago Tribune Crain's Chicago Business PRNewswire Pediatric News The Nation Advertising Age The Economist (US) A FREE trial gives you access to over 80 million articles! Access over 6,500 publications with a FREE trial!