KEY WEST, FLORIDA (BNO NEWS) — According to Coast Guard Marine Safety Laboratory tests, the tar balls discovered on Florida Keys shoreline on Tuesday were not from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the U.S. Coast Guard said on Wednesday.

A sampling of tar balls discovered on several beaches were flown to New London, Conn. Tuesday for testing and analysis.

“The results of tests conclusively show that the tar balls collected from Florida Keys beaches do not match the type of oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The source of the tar balls remains unknown at this time,” the U.S. Coast Guard said in a statement.

Coast Guard pollution investigators responded to a report of twenty tar balls found on the beach at Fort Zachary Taylor State Park in Key West on Monday. Park rangers conducted a shoreline survey and recovered the tar balls at a rate of nearly three tar balls an hour throughout the day.

On Tuesday, Coast Guard Sector Key West received notification from the National Response Center of tar balls on the beach in Big Pine Key, followed by a report of tar balls on Loggerhead Key in the Dry Tortugas National Park. There was another report of tar balls on Smathers Beach on Tuesday morning.

“The conclusion that these tar balls are not from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill incident in no way diminishes the need to continue to aggressively identify and clean up tar ball-contaminated areas in the Florida Keys,” said. Capt. Pat DeQuattro, commanding officer of Sector Key West.

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