SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas (AP) _ Oil is washing up on the beach at tourist-popular South Padre Island and the state is trying to figure out the source of the muck.
Tar-like blobs as big as basketballs were spotted Thursday.
Texas General Land Office Commissioner Jerry Patterson says crews were working on cleanup and the state will “take any steps necessary to protect South Padre Island beaches, as well as the South Bay Coastal Preserve.”
Agency spokesman Jim Suydam (SOO’-dam) told The Associated Press that crews “scooped out a bunch of tar balls on the beach” for
removal and chemical analysis.
Suydam says at least seven 55-gallon drums of tar balls have been removed since Wednesday morning.
He says tourists have been calling in reports of tar balls on the beach.