HOUSTON — All the tar balls found over the weekend along the Texas Gulf Coast were from the BP oil spill, test results confirmed Tuesday as the state attorney general said he asked BP to provide $25 million to pay for clean-up efforts.

Officials first announced Monday that five gallons of tar balls were found Saturday on the Bolivar Peninsula — the first evidence that the gushing crude from the Deepwater Horizon well had reached Texas.

About two gallons of tar balls were also discovered Sunday on the peninsula and nearby Galveston Island, located about 50 miles southeast of Houston.

They were sent for testing to determine whether they also came from the ruptured well.

The results came back Tuesday and showed those tar balls also came from the spill, U.S. Coast Guard Petty officer Richard Brahm said.

Capt. Jim Whitehead, with the U.S. Coast Guard Houston-Galveston sector, said six more gallons of tar balls were found Monday on Galveston Island and three more gallons were discovered on the Bolivar Peninsula. Samples from these tar balls were sent out for testing to determine if they were from the Gulf oil spill, he said.

Tar balls also were found Monday to the east at McFaddin Beach in Jefferson County, but test results to determine whether those were from the Gulf spill were not yet available, said Texas Land Commission Jerry Patterson.

 


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