BP cleanup efforts missed thousands of tar balls, USF researchers say

University of South Florida researchers are rebutting BP claims that beaches hit by oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill are clean, noting evidence of tar balls and buried oil along miles of sand in northwest Florida and Alabama.

While the beaches appeared clean after crews left, closer inspection revealed tiny black tar balls, the scientists said. They also said cleanup efforts did not address layers of oil buried inches below the sand, accounting for possibly more than half of the beach contamination.

"That leads us to the conclusion that the cleanup at this point is basically superficial," said Ping Wang, a USF beach geologist who led the research. "That maybe using these machines which are crushing the tar into small pieces may not be the smartest thing to do."

The report, released this week on USF's website, included photos of the contamination and details from the research group's five surveys since the April 20 Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion.

Their first visits occurred before Florida's northwest beaches were hit by the waves of oil, and their last visit was after Hurricane Alex swept through the gulf in July, officials said.

That storm produced the most impact of oil contamination on the beaches.