Seabirds wash up on English coast covered in sticky substance

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. They now know its a mixture of refined mineral oils

The substance found on hundreds of seabirds washed up on the south coast is a "mixture of refined mineral oils", the Environment Agency has said.
...
The agency said the material was not vegetable, animal or palm oil.
...
"We have received no specific reports of pollution within the English Channel area, but we have sent one of our counter pollution surveillance aircraft to investigate the sea areas between Dover and the Isles of Scilly."
...
He said: "It sounds like - and it's pure speculation - that there's a ship out there somewhere that's flushed its tanks out illegally because it was being either too lazy or couldn't be bothered to pay the fees of having the tanks flushed in a port in the correct way."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-21291294