Gulf spill won't affect upper East Coast

BALTIMORE, May 24 (UPI) -- The Gulf of Mexico oil leak won't have much of an impact up the East Coast, experts say.

Jim Carton, chairman of the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science at the University of Maryland, says while the southern East Coast may get a bigger dose of crude as currents carry the spill around Florida, the "good news" is only a few sandy tar balls are likely to show up on Maryland beaches, The Baltimore Sun reported Monday.

"The current leaves the continental shelf at about Cape Hatteras (N.C.), and heads northeast," Carton said. "Parts of North America north of Cape Hatteras should be fairly safe from this stuff."

Satellite images show oil has made its way into the Loop Current, which will carry it around Florida into the Atlantic Ocean. But unless a major storm blows oil-laden surface water westward from the Gulf Stream, the spill "should pass us by," Carton said.

Wes Tunnell Jr., associate director of Texas A&M's Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies, says oil naturally seeps into the water from the gulf floor all the time. He said there is a "huge population of bacteria and microorganisms that feed upon the oil," rendering it much less toxic.

"Probably all you guys (in Maryland) would see up there would be tar balls on your beach, and it would be very weathered," he said.

Carton says there also is a chance currents could take the oil southward toward Cuba.

"I think Cuba is a serious issue, and I wonder if it should be part of the U.S. response," Carton said. "It's our oil showing up on their beaches."