Coast Guard to do more in-depth testing on oil

GALVESTON — The U.S. Coast Guard now will wait for more in-depth testing before announcing if oil found on beaches is related to the BP oil spill, a Coast Guard official said.

Confusion arose after the Coast Guard announced Friday tar balls found on Galveston beaches were not from BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil rig spill as initially reported during the July 4 weekend, Texas General Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson said.

Officials announced oil from the Gulf spill was found in Galveston before more thorough forensic testing, done at the Coast Guard’s Marine Safety Lab in Connecticut, was completed, Patterson said.

Initial testing following a scientific standard is done at a Coast Guard lab in Louisiana.

The Coast Guard will announce if oil found on beaches originated from the Gulf spill only after forensic tests are done, Coast Guard Capt. Marcus Woodring said.

As many as 70 ships port in Galveston every day, and any could have brought the tar balls, Woodring said.

“We’re not sure we’re ever going to determine where the Galveston tar balls came from,” Woodring said.

Cleanup efforts will continue, Patterson said.

“It doesn’t matter where the oil came from,” Patterson said. “We’re going to clean the beaches.”

T&T Marine Salvage crews and U.S. Coast Guard officers have collected about 20 gallons of oil from Galveston.

Crews have collected about 200 gallons of vegetation and sand coated in oil between Crystal Beach and McFaddin Beach in Jefferson County, Woodring said.

Lab results determining the origin of the substance are expected Tuesday, Richard Arnhart, Texas General Land Office regional director for oil spill prevention and response, said.

Tourists who canceled vacations to Florida or Alabama’s Gulf coast after the oil spill have flooded the Galveston Chamber of Commerce with phone calls inquiring about the status of the island’s beaches, chamber President Gina Spagnola said.

Galveston hotels were 85 percent full this weekend, Spagnola said.

Oil sightings failed to cancel Chip and Trish Parker’s visit to Galveston. The couple from Lubbock got married Friday at East Beach.

“We knew it was an insignificant amount,” Chip Parker said. “We weren’t concerned.”