Word: oils
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...balls were the first debris to hit U.S. waters from the runaway Mexican oil well that has dumped 265,000 tons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, causing one of the biggest oil spills in history-and potentially a major environmental disaster...
With patches of oil widely dispersed over the gulf, officials feared that the oil could pollute beaches as far away as the west coast of Florida...
...oil first began spewing into the Gulf on June 3, when an exploratory well drilled by Pemex, Mexico's national oil company, blew out of control in the Bay of Campeche, some 500 miles south of the Texas coast. Efforts to cap the gusher by pumping chemicals and steel balls into the well throttled the flow from 4,500 tons a day to 3,000 tons, but failed to stop it. An oil slick 60 to 70 miles long gradually formed around the well and started to creep northward. Part of the slick was turned back off Tampico, Mexico...
Mexican beaches were the first to be hit. They were spotted last week with giant puddles of crude oil and thick clusters of tar balls. The Mexican government mounted an emergency airlift to carry newly hatched Atlantic ridley turtles, an endangered species of giant sea turtle, from the polluted beaches...
...contrast, the accumulation on South Padre Island's spectacular beach was not much heavier last week than usual: bits of tar routinely float in from passing tankers. Bathers have got used to oil-stained feet. Thus few cancellations were reported at hotels. Padre Island, a thin barrier reef that stretches approximately 130 miles north from its highly developed southern tip, was slightly harder hit. But the oil was still no worse than a thick line of tar at the water's edge...