I'ts true. Tar balls been found on the Gulf of Mexico beaches at least since Karankawa days. They would pick it up and waterproof their reed baskets with it. You can't swim anywhere on the Texas coast without getting a few black smudges on your feet. Most are totally natural seepages. 350,000,000 gallons of it seep naturally from oil formations around the world each year.
Some does come from errant ships as of late history, but I don't think its really that much. The consistancy of the weathered tar balls is much different from new oil. Tar balls are basically only the heavies, that's why they're called tar balls, not oil balls. Even new weathered crude "tar" balls, still show some shinyness to them and smell different. Tar balls are duller in appearence than new asphalt. Its pretty easy for an old Texas surf fisherman like me to tell them apart. New oil comes off with soapy water. True tar balls need a kerosene, or BBQ lighter fluid wipe to remove them. You usually find you stepped in a few after you get home and take off your socks and walk around on the carpet.
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"Being GREEN isn't easy" ..Kermit
Ya. I guess this one is from that other British posession, Gibraltar. No, not really. There was a tanker that ran aground opposite Gib. on the Spanish coast around 18 months ago. They didn't get all of the oil offloaded.
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"Being GREEN isn't easy" ..Kermit
"The major difference between a thing that might go wrong and a thing that cannot possibly go wrong is that when a thing that cannot possibly go wrong goes wrong, it usually turns out to be impossible to get at and repair." - Douglas Adams
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