May 4, 2010: A ribbon of oil caused by the
spill from the BP Deepwater Horizon platform is seen in the water near the Chandeleur Islands, Louisiana. The massive scope of the spill, which began on April 20th with an explosion on the BP rig, is slowly becoming clear.
May 9, 2010: A dead fish is seen on the beach in Lafourche Parish, Louisiana. It is unknown how the fish died. The wellhead of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig is leaking an estimated 5,000 barrels of oil a day into the Gulf and the slick has now reached nearby land. Efforts to contain the spill, including a 98-ton containment box to cap the leak, have done little to slow its flow.
May 10, 2010: One of the New Harbor Islands is protected by two oil booms against the oil slick that has passed inside of the protective barrier formed by the Chandeleur Islands, as cleanup operations continue. As of May 28, over 3 million feet of boom have been deployed in the disaster at a cost of approximately $60 million.
May 15, 2010: Trish Webster enjoys the beach as workers pass by as they search the beach for tar balls to be picked up as they wash ashore from the Deepwater Horizon site in Dauphin Island, Alabama. "It's tragic that this is happening," said Webster. Oil continues to leak out of the Deepwater Horizon wellhead as
BP works on slowing the leak and containing the oil in the Gulf of Mexico. The growing slick threatens to hamper tourism in all Gulf states affected by the spill. Alabama raked in $2.3 billion from beach tourism in 2008 alone.
May 17, 2010: The letters BP, inscribed in sand and oil by a Greenpeace activist, are shown on a beach at the mouth of the Mississippi River near Venice, Louisiana. BP announced today that it is successfully siphoning off 1,000 barrels of oil per day from the Deepwater Horizon oil rig that exploded and sank to the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico April 22, killing 11 crew members. The amount of oil escaping from the well is a matter of dispute, making the success of BP's effort difficult for regulators to ascertain.
May 17, 2010: Greenpeace marine biologist Paul Horsman inspects oil washed in with the tide on a beach at the mouth of the Mississippi River on May 17, 2010 near Venice, Louisiana. The slick threatens migratory birds, mammals, and all manner of marine life in Louisiana's wetlands.
May 19, 2010: Crews conduct overflights of controlled burns taking place in the Gulf of Mexico. Controlled burns, skimmers, and chemical dispersants are just some of the tools that cleanup crews are using in the spill. Scientists also now believe that the spill has reached the Loop Current, a warm ocean current that could carry the slick to the Florida Straits.
May 22, 2010: An oil-covered crab crawls past a blob of oil on the beach on Grand Isle, Louisiana. More than a month after
BP's Deepwater Horizon well exploded, oil continues gushing from the well and is coating beaches and marshland along the Louisiana coast.
May 23, 2010: A BP cleanup crew removes oil from a beach at Port Fourchon, Louisiana. The situation is growing increasingly desperate as BP's attempts to stop the spill fail.
May 24, 2010: BP CEO Tony Hayward answers questions from the media on an oil-stained beach at Port Fourchon, Louisiana. Hayward said that BP is doing everything possible to clean up the massive
oil spill still gushing into the Gulf of Mexico. Officials now say, however, that it may be impossible to clean the hundreds of miles of coastal wetlands and islands affected.
May 26, 2010: Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal (3rd L) scoops crude oil from the water during a tour of areas where oil has come ashore with Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser (2nd L), James Carville (2nd R) and Anderson Cooper (R) in Blind Bay, Louisiana. As BP prepares to try and stop the oil leak with a 'top kill' method, the Louisiana coastline is reeling from the effects of the continued gusher.
May 26, 2010 Reporter Anderson Cooper is reflected in oil filled water during a tour of areas where oil has come ashore in Blind Bay, Louisiana. The next day, marine scientists identified a 22 mile underwater oil plume heading towards Alabama. Top Kill appears to be working, but BP won't make any definitive statements.
