News and Public Media for North Central Florida

Oil from spill finally clearing

By Marc Whiteman - WUFT-FM

Almost one year later, the residue from the Gulf oil spill might be nearly gone. University of South Florida Geologist Dr. Ping Wang says at this point, the remaining tar balls are barely noticeable.

“I’m actually pretty surprised that the beach was quite clean, and all the small tar balls that were crushed up from earlier could be the size of a fingertip,” he says.

The USF study examined the coastline from Panama City to Dauphin Island, Alabama and was funded by the National Science Foundation. Research began last May, shortly after the initial oil spill on April 20th and their findings were published yesterday.

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Marc is a reporter who can be contacted by calling 352-392-6397 or emailing news@wuft.org.