Oil spill from Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion begins to reach land

Members of a shoreline cleanup assessment team (SCAT) follow a trail of oil debris from the Deepwater Horizon spill on the shoreline of Raccoon Island, off the coast of Louisiana in the gulf of Mexico, on 12 May. The island is a protected bird breeding sanctuary
Photograph: Jonathen E. Davis/USCG

Coast Guard crew from the USCGC Harry Claiborne remove a boom that had been used to help skim oil from the ocean surface
Photograph: Jonathen E. Davis/USCG

A worker takes a break from unloading oil booms to protect marshlands in Hopedale, Louisiana, on 13 May
Photograph: John Moore/Getty Images

SCAT's Todd Farrar holds up hard tar balls found on the beach in Pass Christian, Mississippi, on 12 May
Photograph: Sean Gardner/Reuters

Transocean CEO Steve Newman and BP chairman Lamar McKay prepare to testify before the House Energy and Commerce committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, on 12 May
Photograph: YURI GRIPAS/REUTERS

Demonstrators outside BP Amoco's Washington office, 12 May
Photograph: Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images

Oil spewing from a yellowish, broken pipe 5,000 feet below the surface, in a video of the Deepwater Horizon leak released by BP. The stream occasionally becomes lighter as natural gas mixes into the gusher
Photograph: AP

Monitors show the lowering of 'the top hat', a pollution containment chamber, into the gulf of Mexico by the motor vessel Viking Poseidon. Released by the US Coast Guard on 11 May
Photograph: Patrick Kelley/AP

The chamber being lowered. Another Coast Guard photograph, from 7 May
Photograph: Patrick Kelley /USCG/EPA

Kevin Reynolds, a crew member on the supply vessel Joe Griffin, duct-tapes absorbent pads to hoses to transfer water and fuel to the Development Driller III, drilling a relief well at the site of the spill on 11 May
Photograph: Pool/Getty Images

The Development Driller III
Photograph: Pool/Getty Images

Workers clean up oil along a beach at South Pass, Louisiana, on 11 May, near where the the Mississippi River meets the Gulf of Mexico
Photograph: USCG

Inmates from a La Fourche parish jail on a work release program fill giant sandbags in Port Fourchon, Louisiana, on 11 May. US Army National Guard troops were dropping the sandbags using helicopters on nearby breaks in beaches to protect marshes from the spill
Photograph: Rick Wilking/Reuters

A Louisiana National Guard Black Hawk helicopter brings sand bags to form a blockage across a water way to keep potential oil out near Grand Isle, Louisiana, on 11 May
Photograph: Larry W. Smith/EPA

Louisiana National Guard use dump trucks to dam off part of the marsh on Elmer's Island in Grand Isle, on 10 May
Photograph: Alex Brandon/AP

Sunbathers on the beach at Dauphin Island, Alabama, behind hay bales placed to absorb any oil that might come ashore, 11 May
Photograph: Brian Snyder/Reuters

Air quality monitoring equipment is installed on the pier at Dauphin Island, 10 May. Tar balls started washing up there on 8 May
Photograph: BRIAN SNYDER/REUTERS

An oil stained cattle egret on the deck of the supply vessel Joe Griffin, 9 May
Photograph: Gerald Herbert/AP

An oil soaked bird struggles against the oil-slicked side of the HOS Iron Horse supply vessel, 9 May
Photograph: Gerald Herbert/AP

Fishermen use their shrimp boat to place oil booms into the water near Shell Beach, Louisiana, on 8 May
Photograph: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Fishing boats drag booms through an oil slick that has passsed inside of the protective barrier formed by the Chandeleur Islands
Photograph: Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images

Booms around the islands, 7 May
Photograph: Brian Snyder/Reuters

Boats including a barge carrying a oil containment vessel sit out in Venice, Louisiana, near the site of the spill, on 6 May
Photograph: Chris Graythen/Getty Images

Oil burns during a controlled fire in the gulf of Mexico on 6 May
Photograph: U.S. Navy/Getty Images

The crew of a Basler BT-67 fixed wing aircraft release oil dispersant, 5 May
Photograph: HO/Reuters