Pancakes and Mousse off Texas

A giant oil spill menaces the beaches

On the white, powdery beach of Texas' South Padre Island, hundreds of vacationers last week swam and basked in the sun. They seemed oblivious to Coast Guardsmen who were positioning floating barriers in the water. But even as the sunbathers relaxed at the expensive resort, which grosses $40 million annually in tourist dollars, peanut-size globs of oil began to wash up on the beach. Others, as big as basketballs, floated just offshore.

The tar balls were the first debris to hit U.S. waters from the runaway Mexican oil well that has dumped 265,000 tons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, causing one of the biggest oil spills in history--and potentially a major environmental disaster.

With patches of oil widely dispersed over the gulf, officials feared that the oil could pollute beaches as far away as the west coast of Florida.

The oil first began spewing into the Gulf on June 3, when an exploratory well drilled by Pemex, Mexico's national oil company, blew out of control in the Bay of Campeche, some 500 miles south of the Texas coast. Efforts to cap the gusher by pumping chemicals and steel balls into the well throttled the flow from 4,500 tons a day to 3,000 tons, but failed to stop it. An oil slick 60 to 70 miles long gradually formed around the well and started to creep northward. Part of the slick was turned back off Tampico, Mexico, by a countercurrent. The rest broke down into large flat pancakes, mousselike patches and thin iridescent streamers.

Mexican beaches were the first to be hit. They were spotted last week with giant puddles of crude oil and thick clusters of tar balls. The Mexican government mounted an emergency airlift to carry newly hatched Atlantic ridley turtles, an endangered species of giant sea turtle, from the polluted beaches out to sea.

By contrast, the accumulation on South Padre Island's spectacular beach was not much heavier last week than usual: bits of tar routinely float in from passing tankers. Bathers have got used to oil-stained feet. Thus few cancellations were reported at hotels. Padre Island, a thin barrier reef that stretches approximately 130 miles north from its highly developed southern tip, was slightly harder hit. But the oil was still no worse than a thick line of tar at the water's edge.

What worried the Coast Guard and a 150-member group of experts from eight federal agencies, including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency, was the oil's elusive quality. In contrast to other major spills, which usually move on the surface of the water, much of this oil has weathered, sunk and is moving along as deep as 40 ft. below the surface. The sausage-shaped rubberized barriers that were towed into place by the Coast Guard to protect the beaches extend only less than 3 ft. below the surface. Said John Robinson of the NOAA: "We have never seen anything like it. There is no engineering solution."

The most immediate danger is at Laguna Madre, a shallow estuary between Padre Island and the Texas mainland. Protected by the island's sand dunes and wild flats, Laguna Madre's salt marshes and grassy waters support a rich wildlife. Brown shrimp larvae, the basis of a $140 million industry, develop there, as do oysters, crabs and fish. Shrimpers are worried that the oil will either kill the shrimp larvae or contaminate the mature shrimp. Said John Mehos, vice president of Galveston's Liberty Fish and Oyster Co.: "I would say the industry is scared." The lagoon is also a major stopover for migrating birds, among them endangered species like the peregrine falcon. It also is the wintering grounds of the redhead duck. Conservationists fear that the oil may destroy the plankton essential to the lagoon's life cycle.

By week's end favorable winds were keeping much of the oil off beaches, but the menace remained: a huge expanse of pancakes and mousse, 75 miles long and 100 miles wide, was spotted 240 miles south of Brownsville, Texas, and the oil continued to flow relentlessly from the bottom of the gulf. Two relief wells now being drilled by Pemex, which are intended to divert the flow away from the gusher, will not be finished before early October. Then, workers will need up to a month to cap the runaway well. At the very least, the effects of the spill will be felt for a year. Said Patrick Parker, director of the University,of Texas Marine Science Institute: "The oil sinks and then comes back up. It's going to be a long-term problem."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.