July 6, 2010 7:00 AM

You had to know that this was going to happen to Texas eventually

Officials have confirmed that tar balls discovered over the holiday weekend on Crystal Beach in the Bolivar Peninsula are from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, marking the first time oil from the spill has been found on Texas beaches. About 10-12 tar balls washed up on Crystal Beach on Saturday. On Sunday, 5 gallons of oil were also found on the same beach. The tar balls ranged from the size of a dime to a golf ball. After workers cleaned the beach, the tar balls and oil were sent to labs to be analyzed. Officials confirmed that the oil was from the Deepwater Horizon spill. However, officials said the makeup of the oil was not consistent with having traveled 400 miles in the ocean. Investigators are looking it into the possibility that the oil might have been carried on the side of a ship or in the bilge of a ship that had taken in water.

Anyone who’s lived along the Gulf Coast knows that tar balls washing up on shore is neither a new nor particularly alarming phenomenon. Still, it’s been an open question since the Deepwater Horizon rig blew up on April 20th: When would the oil hit Texas beaches? The relatively minute amount of oil found on the Bolivar Peninsula may or may not represent cause for alarm. Still, it’s difficult to look at this development with anything but a sense of foreboding and alarm. Oil has now reached every Gulf Coast state, and it’s not as if things are promising to get better any time soon.

The beaches of Galveston Island and the Bolivar Peninsula are not the fabled white sand beaches of Florida’s Redneck Riviera. To be honest, as beaches go, they’re really rather mundane and not overly attractive. Still, both the Bolivar Peninsula and Galveston Island are two of the few things I miss about Texas. The people who live in both places are some of the most genuine and relaxed folks you’ll find anywhere. They’re communities where people live there for the lifestyle. People live there because they love it, not because there are lot of opportunities to make a decent living. Both communities were devastated by Hurricane Ike in September, 2008. I know this because I was there four days after Hurricane Ike hit (Bolivar was Ground Zero), and I spent two months helping dealing with the aftermath.

(You can view my pictures of the damage to the Bolivar Peninsula here and to Galveston Island here.)

If I live to be 105, and I never see anything like the aftermath of Hurrican Ike again, I will die a very happy man. I’ve lived and worked in three different war zones, and I’ve never seen (and hope I never will again) such total and complete destruction and devastation. The last thing these folks need is to have to deal with an oil spill…like they’re ultimately going to have a choice in the matter.

How long before Texas is dealing with some of the same issues bedeviling Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida? To think that Texas is immune by dint of distance from the Deepwater Horizon is naive at best and self-destructive at worst. No, things may not get as bad as they are in Louisiana, but once people hear that oil is lapping up on Galveston Island, how long will it be before hotel reservations and other tourism-related activities go the way of the buffalo?

After Hurricane Ike, folks along the Texas Gulf Coast deserve a break. I’m wondering if they’re actually going to be fortunate enough to get one, though. Judging by the economic impact the oil spill has created in the other Gulf States, things are not looking good. Given what these folks are still recovering from, that’s just not fair. Not that BP really gives a damn….

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on July 6, 2010 7:00 AM.

Because you never know when someone will threaten your inalienable right to a latte was the previous entry in this blog.

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