Gulf's oil leak impact on Myrtle Beach area called minimal

Oil leaking in the Gulf of Mexico will have a vast impact on the coast there, but it likely will have minimal effect on the Grand Strand, according to professors at Coastal Carolina University.

Louis Keiner, a physics and marine science professor, and Jim Luken, a biology professor, spoke about the oil spill's impact on the area at a special meeting of the Grand Strand Technology Council on Thursday.

"What is happening in Louisiana is clearly a major disaster," said Michael Roberts, the dean of Coastal's College of Natural and Applied Sciences, who served as the moderator. "I think if you look at the volume of water and the volume of oil, the dilution factor and degradation factor ... what we will be dealing with will be something very different."

A response as simple as mobilizing people to pick up tar balls may be needed if the oil reached the Grand Strand, and booms and skimmers such as those being used along the Louisiana coast likely won't be needed, Roberts said.

Although oil continues to spew into the Gulf, it has not yet entered the loop current, which would carry it to the Gulf Stream and up the coast to the waters off of South Carolina, Keiner said.

"One of the things that's very important about this is that by the time any oil gets here it would weather to the point of being a tar ball," he said. "I think it's likely that we will see some [tar balls] but I would be very surprised it we saw lots."

The Gulf Stream, which runs along the east coast, hugs the coastline along much of Florida but moves further east along the South Carolina coast, providing more of a barrier between the beaches and the oil. Most of the oil will simply continue along the Gulf Stream past the South Carolina coast, Keiner said.

It is not possible for the oil to have reached the Grand Strand yet, and the area will have some warning and be able to learn from watching the impact on the eastern coast of Florida, he said. Once the oil reaches the Gulf Stream and rounds Florida it will take a minimum of 10 to 15 days to reach the Grand Strand.

"Most of this oil is going to be staying in the Gulf, which is good for us but horrible for the people of Louisiana," Keiner said.

Keiner said it is likely that oil will enter the Gulf Stream but there are many unknowns about how the ocean currents will carry the oil and what impacts any hurricanes or major storms could have.

Hurricanes could spread oil in the Gulf and potentially carry oil or tar balls closer to the local coastline but could also help to clear away some of the tar balls from beaches, he said.

The tar balls are a problem on a beach in a tourism area because they are not physically attractive, said Luken.

"It's mostly an aesthetic problem on a beach, less ecological," he said. Fewer animals and organisms live on sandy beaches and tar balls are easier to remove from beaches.

The tar balls that reach the local salt marshes should be left there to allow the natural organisms to eventually dissolve them. Allowing the natural process to work is the least harmful way to handle cleanup in the wetland, Luken said. While the tar balls are not as bad as raw crude, the low levels of chemicals they release will still affect the salt marshes.

Plants and life in a salt marsh will recover naturally from an oil spill, though the speed of the recovery depends on the extent of the damage and the season, Luken said.

In North Carolina, officials have been preparing to measure any impacts of the spill on marine life by doing a baseline study of fish and shellfish in the state's waters.

The samples are being gathered by the Division of Marine Fisheries from sites along the coast, including Brunswick County's Shallotte River and elsewhere as well as in the ocean 40 miles to 50 miles off the Brunswick coast.

At the end of Thursday's event several community members who attended expressed concern about the government's plan for addressing oil that might reach the Grand Strand, and they called for action.

Patrick Boulter said he has heard about politicians talking but would like to see some actions. He said that while he respects scientists there are still many unknowns and the area should be prepared.

"I'm more of a logistics person. I'm more concerned that we have a plan of attack," he said. "I'd like to try to solve the problem before it gets here."