La. officials: Huge tar balls, some 8 inches across, found littering wide area of beach

La. officials: 8-inch tar balls washed up on beach

PORT FOURCHON, La. — Louisiana wildlife officials say huge tar balls have littered the beach at Port Fourchon, some of them 8 inches across.

Laura Deslatte, a spokeswoman for the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, said Friday that the glossy globs were found along the entire beach at Port Fourchon. Workers from her department have not yet seen so much oil washed up anywhere else.

A news release said that on Thursday, biologists found about 25 nickel-sized tar balls per square foot from the beach’s southwestern end to its midpoint.

They also found more than a dozen tar balls on the banks of Belle Pass, a few hundred yards north of the waterway’s mouth.

A Coast Guard spokesman also says significant amounts of oil have washed onto the Chandeleur Islands — part of a national wildlife refuge.

On the Net:

Photos of tar balls on Port Fourchon: bit.ly/9SUWGG