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AUSTIN * Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson today sought to calm
concerns about the oil slick from the Deepwater Horizon spill and
potential effects on the Texas coast. Currently, the slick is still
about 160 miles east of the Texas coast.
*Despite some media reports, Texas is not yet affected by this
spill,* Patterson said. *We*re watching and waiting, but it*s
just not time to go to general quarters. No news is good news.*
If any oil from the Deepwater Horizon makes it to the Texas coast, it
will not be in the form of a thick sludge. Weeks spent adrift at sea,
subject to the sun and waves, will have changed the chemical composition
of the oil by evaporating the lighter components. What*s left is what
Gulf Coast residents call a tarball.
Patterson said the Oil Spill Prevention and Response Program at the
Texas General Land Office is keeping a close eye on the Texas coast, but
so far the few tarballs seen on the beaches appear to be shell-encrusted
lumps which result from natural seepage of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.
*Tarballs washed up on Texas beaches long before offshore drilling,
they*re just a natural part of living on the Texas coast,* Patterson
said. *Generally, they*re really not difficult to pick up if they
wash up on shore.*
As much as 1 million barrels of crude oil leaked into the gulf from
natural seepage just last year, according to the Petroleum Extension
Service at the University of Texas at Austin.
Over the past five years, the oil spill program at the Texas General
Land Office has responded to 53 reports of tarballs washing up on Texas
beaches. Each time, the response is about the same: Workers with shovels
and rakes go out and pick them up.
If any tarballs from the Deepwater Horizon make it to Texas shores, the
Texas General Land Office will work with the U.S. Coast Guard and BP to
clean them up. *It*s not that big of a deal,* Patterson said.
While tarballs are not uncommon on the Texas
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