East Florida Tar Balls Found

By: Rob Adams
07/11/2010 08:59 AM ET

Florida tar balls found that could be from the BP oil spill. They are described as balls of tar seen in Florida that could be from the BP oil spill in the Gulf. The tar balls are floating off shore and washing up on the beach in Brevard County, Florida.

The big black oily tar balls floating off shore and washing up on Cocoa Beach are being tested by the U.S. Coast Guard. It will determine if the tar is actually from the BP oil spill in the Gulf. It should take a couple of days to get those results.

Tar balls along Brevard County beaches are washing up. Some the size of a quarter, others up to five inches wide spanned up to two miles on the beach. Right now it’s unclear if these gooey black blobs were carried by the current from disaster in the Gulf, or if they came from a tanker or large ship off shore.

Area residents say ever since the oil rig exploded more than two months ago, Florida has been alarmed. “Even if it is a false alarm, its still going to affect us. We get calls now, ‘is your beach affected?’ No its not. So word of that, they’re going to think our beach is completely filled with them,” JoJo Holstein, who manages Coconuts Bar and Grill in Cocoa Beach, said in a statement.