Deepwater Horizon oil spill reaches the coast

A marine biologist inspects oil pooled on the shore of the east bank of the south pass of the Mississippi river in Louisiana
Photograph: Daniel Beltra/Greenpeace/Reuters

The Greenpeace senior campaigner Lindsey Allen walks through a patch of oil from the Deepwater Horizon on the breakwater in the mouth of the Mississippi river where it meets the Gulf of Mexico in Louisiana
Photograph: Sean Gardner/EPA

A dragonfly is stuck to marsh grass covered in oil
Photograph: Gerald Herbert/AP

Oil streaks past a lighthouse near the mouth of the Mississippi river
Photograph: Charlie Riedel/AP

A helicopter flies over surface oil in this view over the Gulf of Mexico. Fears that ocean currents were spreading oil from the Gulf of Mexico spill flared on Tuesday after tar balls turned up in Florida, raising pressure on energy giant BP to capture more of the leaking crude
Photograph: Daniel Beltra/Greenpeace/Reuters

On 17 May 2010, a large patch of oil was visible near the site of the accident, and a long ribbon of oil stretched far to the south-east. Oil slicks are not always visible in natural-colour satellite images. A thin sheen of oil on an already dark background may be impossible to detect. On this day, however, the slick was located in the sunglint part of the image, which makes the slick stand out
Photograph: Terra/Modis/NASA

An aerial view of the oil
Photograph: Daniel Beltra/Greenpeace/EPA

The mobile offshore drilling unit Development Driller II is prepared to drill a relief well at the Deepwater Horizon site
Photograph: Patrick Kelley/USCG

Gas from the damaged wellhead is burned by the drillship Discoverer Enterprise, 16 May 2010, in a process known as flaring. Gas and oil from the wellhead are being brought to the surface via a tube that was placed inside the damaged pipe
Photograph: Patrick Kelley/USCG

Dispersed oil floats on the surface of the water close to the site of the spill
Photograph: Hans Deryk/Reuters

The Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal talks to the media after his fly over the effected areas in Venus, Louisiana, USA, 18 May 2010
Photograph: Larry W. Smith/EPA

Senate environment and public works committee chair Senator Barbara Boxer, left, speaks with Nancy Sutley, chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), right, and EPA administrator Lisa Jackson, center, on Capitol Hill in Washington, 18 May 2010, before the start of a hearing of the committee's hearing on the Gulf oil spill
Photograph: Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP

Interior secretary Ken Salazar, right, blows a kiss to committee members as he takes his seat on Capitol Hill in Washington, 18 May 2010, prior to testifying before the senate environment and public works committee. EPA administrator Lisa Jackson is at left
Photograph: Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP

With protesters behind him, BP America chairman and president Lamar McKay (right) waits in the audience to testify before the senate homeland security and governmental affairs committee 17 May 2010 in Washington
Photograph: Win McNamee/Getty Images

US Democratic senator from Florida Bill Nelson shows a chart during a hearing of the senate commerce, science and transportation committee on the response efforts to the oil spill
Photograph: Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images

Shrimpers separate their catch at a processing plant at Joshua's Marina in Buras, Louisiana. While some local fishermen have been hired by BP to assist in oil spill clean-up efforts others wait on a list for possible employment and continue to fish the bay side of the coastal waters while restrictions are lifted
Photograph: Hans Deryk/Reuters

Seagulls feed not far from the spill offshore in the sensitive marshlands near Venice, Louisiana
Photograph: John Moore/Getty Images

Erica Miller, left, and Heather Nevell, clean a brown pelican at the Fort Jackson Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre at Buras
Photograph: Charlie Riedel/AP

Kathryn Nelson, whose husband is a fisherman, walks with her children after collecting a number to reserve a spot in line for filing claims against BP at a claims office in Bayou La Batre, Alabama. BP says they are committed to pay legitimate and objectively verifiable claims for loss and damage caused by the spill
Photograph: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

The US musician Dr John (right) performs with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band during Gulf Aid, a benefit concert for Gulf Coast residents affected by the oil spill, at the Mardi Gras World River City in New Orleans, Louisiana
Photograph: Patrick Semansky/EPA

Logan Heyne waits for workers to pass as they search the beach for tar balls to be picked up as they wash ashore from the Deepwater Horizon site
Photograph: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Amy Jarret from Heritage Environmental Services tosses a bag full of oil debris in a container in Port Fourchon, Louisisna. Heritage Environmental Services is working with contractors and volunteers to properly dispose of the oil debris washed ashore on the coast
Photograph: Jonathen E. Davis/Nikon Digital

Workers place oil containment boom on low areas of the beach that are affected by tide in Fourchon, Louisiana. The boom is place in the low areas to prevent oil getting into the nearby marsh when water from the ocean flows into it when sea levels are at their highest levels
Photograph: Patrick Kelley/USCG

President Barack Obama speaks in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, following his closed meeting with his Cabinet and other senior administration officials on the ongoing effort to stop the BP oil spill
Photograph: Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP