Tar balls wash up on Atlantic side - Cocoa Beach
WESH-TV
Tue July 6, 2010
Area: Orlando, Daytona Beach, Melbourne
COCOA BEACH, Florida - Tests are out on more than a dozen tar balls that have been found in a 2- to 3-mile stretch of Cocoa Beach during the past two days, according to Brevard County authorities.
Lifeguards said some beachgoers collected the tar balls in buckets. One woman said she found one that was as big as a roof shingle.
The tar balls have washed ashore at Lori Wilson Park, and also along the shore from 6th Street southward to the Cocoa Beach Pier.
"I don't like it at all. They are ruining our beaches -- even all the way up here on the East Coast," one beachgoer said.
Kimberly Prosser, a spokeswoman for Brevard County, said the tar balls are being examined to determine if they came from the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Results are expected back within the next 24 hours or so.
"We don't know what the source is. Because of the fact that several pieces have washed up in the same area, it is apparent that it is from the same source, but we don't know what that source is," Prosser said.
She said the tar balls could be from the BP oil spill or processed oil from a boat spill. A few weeks ago, a shrimp boat sank off of the Brevard coast, and it is possible the oil could be fuel from the tank.
"After the testing happens, then we will know," Prosser said.
Anyone who finds tar balls is advised not to touch them, but to call 211 and report the location of them.
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