Tests Confirm Isaac Stirred Up Oil From BP Spill

Tar balls have washed onto beaches in Louisiana, elsewhere
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 6, 2012 1:20 PM CDT
Tests Confirm Isaac Dug Up Oil From BP Spill
In this aerial photo, people clear out their flooded homes in the aftermath of Hurricane Isaac in LaPlace, La., Wednesday.   (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

It looks like Gulf Coast beaches will be getting periodic reminders of the 2010 BP oil spill for years to come. Tests confirm that tar balls washed ashore in the wake of Hurricane Isaac did indeed come from the infamous Macondo well, reports the AP. Isaac apparently dredged up oil from the spill that had settled on the ocean floor off Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi. The amounts hitting the beaches aren't staggering, but an Auburn researcher says this likely won't be the end of it.

"We're in year three and this seems to be the new normal for the Gulf Coast," he says. "For some unforeseeable time, this is going to be the new normal for the beach." (More Hurricane Isaac stories.)

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