TEXAS CITY, TEXAS (AP) -- The crude continues to spill into the Gulf of Mexico but the fleet of skimmers tapped to clean the worst-hit areas is high and dry.
A string of small storms has made the water too choppy for the boats to operate off Florida, Alabama and Mississippi.
Meantime, tar balls have been discovered in Texas, but officials say there's no way to tell if they came off a ship or arrived some other way.
Coast Guard Capt. Marcus Wording says the consistency of the tar balls indicates they could have been spread to Texas water by ships that have worked out in the spill.
Hurricane Alex, which blew through the Gulf last week and made landfall along the border between Texas and Mexico, may have played a small role.
The spill is also reaching deeper into Louisiana.
For more news and multimedia on the Gulf oil disaster, visit our Oil Spill section.
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