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Kauai tar balls
force beaches to close;
clean-up continues

Star-Bulletin staff

Crews hope to finish this weekend cleaning a section of northeastern Kauai coastline where tar balls floated ashore and forced state officials to close the beaches.

Department of Health spokesman Patrick Johnston said most of the baseball-sized tar balls floated ashore Thursday and were concentrated along the high water mark on three to four miles of coastline.

Beaches have been closed since Thursday from the Outrigger Kauai Beach Hotel in Nukolii to Anahola Bay.

Coast Guard Lt. Chris Curatilo, chief of marine protection, said the tar balls are along the surface of the shoreline and very scattered.

Curatilo said a private contractor has been hired to do the cleanup and is being paid through a federal oil clean-up fund.

He said the government would seek reimbursement from those responsible for the tar balls, if they are found.