5 Miles Of Florida Beach Slimed With Oil Just Weeks After Hurricane Sally

Five miles of Florida beach and sea have been fouled with oil just two weeks after Hurricane Sally made landfall there.

Samples of the oil found on Johnson Beach on Perdido Key were collected in an attempt to determine the source of the pollution, according to U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Dustin Williams. It’s possible the storm whipped up still-submerged oil from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico or pushed the oil from another source onto the shore.

“There is an approximately 5-mile shore impact of oil on Johnson Beach. The Coast Guard has been on scene and has taken samples to assist in determining origin,” Williams said in a statement Monday. “We are working with the Park Service to address cleanup.”

“We want to get it cleaned up as fast as possible,” Williams told the Pensacola News Journal.

Two weeks ago, the Perdido Key community and barrier island in Escambia County on the Alabama border was hit particularly hard by Sally:

Johnson Beach, part of the Gulf Islands National Seashore, was closed after the oil was first spotted on Saturday.