14 DAY TRIAL // Earlier this week, Coast Guard workers looking to figure out how much damage Tropical Storm Karen had caused to the Louisiana coastline stumbled upon a huge tar mat that was buried under sand around the state's southernmost port.
Local officials have told the press that, presently, workers sent to the area are trying to remove the tar mat from under the sand, and determine whether or not its presence in the area has caused nearby waters to become contaminated.
Preliminary investigations have revealed that the tar mat weighs about 4,100 pounds (1,860 kilograms). Specialists say that it is made up of roughly 80-90% sand, shells and water, and some 10-20% oil.
For the time being, Coat Guard crews and the specialists working closely with them are unable to say how and why this huge tar mat formed on the Louisiana coast.
However, they have reasons to believe that the oil in it comes from the BP Deepwater Horizon spill of 2010. Further investigations are expected to help sort out this issue, Think Progress reports.
The Deepwater Horizon spill, which happened after a rig owned and operated by multinational oil and gas company BP exploded, is believed to be the worst environmental disaster to have ever hit the US.
Interestingly enough, it was only a few months ago when another tar mat about ten times the size of this 4,000-pound one was found some 90 miles (almost 145 kilometers) south of New Orleans.
Otherwise put, the state of Louisiana appears to have taken the lion's share when it comes to long-lasting effects of the BP oil spill.
This second tar mat weighed 40,000 pounds (roughly 20 tons), and measured 165 feet (50.2 meters) in length and 65 feet (19.8 meters) in width. Given its impressive size, it is no wonder that it took workers several weeks to remove it from the seabed.