Oil Spill Off Delaware Coast Affecting Less Than 1% Of Ocean City Beach Area, Officials Say
OCEAN CITY, Md. (WJZ) -- Cleanup efforts continued on the Delmarva Peninsula Tuesday more than a week after oil blobs first started washing ashore in the Delaware Bay.
So far, roughly 55 tons of debris have been cleared. Still, currents continue to carry the oil south, with remnants now washing ashore in Ocean City, Maryland.
"Over the course of the next four or five days, we're going to have some issues," Ocean City Mayor Rick Meehan said. "The good news is it affects less than 1% of the actual beach area."
Ocean City, Maryland Officials Monitoring Oil Spill Affecting Delaware Beaches
Meehan said it's a situation officials are closely monitoring.
"The good news is if there is good news in something like this, is there are no toxic properties evident at this time, there are no harmful vapors and really isn't any health hazard," the mayor said.
As for the environmental impact, Meehan said an upward of 66 birds have had some sort of interaction with the oil blobs, but in most cases, the birds were still able to fly.
"We don't see any real environmental issue at this time," Meehan said. "But that's why there's such an extensive cleanup effort."
The cause of the spill is still unknown. The Coast Guard continues to investigate.
"We are looking at all vessels that were in the area from a period of time before and even a period of time up to [the oil blobs] coming ashore," Lieutenant Commander Coast Guard Frederick Pugh said.