Massive Oil Spill Washes Ashore in the Gulf

June 23: Oil washes up on Pensacola Beach, Florida, staining its famous white sands. Florida saw its worst effect yet from the BP Plc oil spill as thick oily sludge washed ashore on Pensacola Beach. Emergency workers said the pudding-like mixture covered three miles (5 km) of the barrier island that is part of the Gulf Islands National Seashore. (Reuters)

June 24: A lifeguard wears a bandana over his face for breathing protection as he watches the beach in Pensacola Beach, Florida. (AP)

June 24: Oil cleanup crews work on a closed public beach picking up tar washed ashore from Deepwater Horizon spill, Pensacola Beach, Florida. (AP)

June 22: A gas station from which the BP emblem had been removed stands vacated after closing in the panhandle town of Callaway, Florida. (Reuters)

June 23: Members of a Shoreline Cleanup and Assessment Team survey the beach on East Timbalier Island, La. The survey teams are scouting shorelines along the Louisiana coast for oil impact from the Deepwater Horizon incident. (AP)

June 23: Heavy oil tar balls, mats and mousse show up along the shoreline at Pensacola Beach. Gov. Charlie Crist, in town for a tour of the beach and cleanup, examined the heavy oil on Casino Beach near the beach fishing pier. (AP)

June 23: This image from video provided by BP PLC shows oil continuing to gush from the broken wellhead, at the site of the Deepwater Horizon oil well in the Gulf of Mexico. The logistics coordinator onboard the ship that's been siphoning oil from a gushing well in the Gulf of Mexico tells The Associated Press that a cap on top has been reattached and is again capturing some of the crude. (AP)

A sign posted on the boardwalk of an Alabama beach by the Alabama Department of Public Health advises beach-goers to not swim in the water due to the presence of oil-related chemicals caused by the BP oil spill. (Major Garrett)

The shores of Orange Beach, Alabama remain relatively empty as beach-goers are staying away from the oil plagued beaches. (Major Garrett)

The tides of the beaches in Orange Beach, Alabama cause splotches of oil from the BP oil spill to coat the shoreline. (Major Garrett)

A beach line view shows clumps of oil lining the entire shore of one beach in Orange Beach, Alabama. (Major Garrett)

A ball of oil on the beach of Orange Beach, Alabama is seen here to be roughly the same size a boot. (Major Garrett)

A clean up crew worker in Orange Beach, Alabama uses a sand skimmer in an attempt to remove the clumps of oil that have washed ashore as a result of the BP oil spill. (Major Garrett)

June11: A brown pelican, one of hundreds covered with oil from the Gulf of Mexico spill, flaps its wings in a pen at the bird rescue center next to Fort Jackson, La. The birds are kept in 8-foot-by-8-foot mesh-covered pens until they are well enough to be washed. After washing, they stay in larger outdoor pens with pools until they are ready for release.  (AP Photo)

June 10: A Kemp’s ridley sea turtle is lifted back to its temporary tank after being weighed, getting its heartbeat and temperature taken, and getting a shot of antibiotics on Thursday at the Audubon Nature Institute’s Aquatic Centerin New Orleans. The turtle was covered in oil when it was brought to the center on June 1, but now the only black is its natural coloring. Twenty-seven oiled turtles have been brought to the center; officials say none is yet ready to return to the wild. 

June 9: An oil covered crab is seen along with oil washed ashore from the Deepwater Horizon spill in Belle Terre, La.

June 9: Kristy Holiday and Deets Finley, both of Houston, do yoga exercises as oil cleanup workers hired by BP pick up oil and tar balls on the beach in Orange Beach, Ala. Large amounts of the oily tar balls have started washing up on Orange Beach and the beaches in the western Florida panhandle.

June 7: A dead turtle floats on a pool of oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill in Barataria Bay off the coast of Louisiana. (AP)

June 6: A small oil-covered fish lies on the water's surface at Bay Long off the coast of Louisiana. Oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill continued to move inland along several gulf states. (AP)

June 6: Plaquemines Parish coastal zone director P.J. Hahn holds up a small oil-covered fish at Bay Long off the coast of Louisiana. Oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill continued to move inland along several gulf states. (AP)

June 5: In this file photo, Plaquemines Parish coastal zone director P.J. Hahn lifts his boot out of thick beached oil at Queen Bess Island in Barataria Bay, just off the Gulf of Mexico in Plaquemines Parish, La. (AP)

June 6: Environmental Defense Fund coastal scientist Angelina Freeman takes a sample of oil while surveying the conditions of Bartaria Bay near Venice, Louisiana. Oil from BP's out-of-control Gulf of Mexico oil spill could threaten the Mississippi and Alabama coasts this week, U.S. forecasters said, as public anger surged over the nation's worst environmental disaster. (Reuters)

June 6: A journalist walks past a dead Brown Pelican covered in oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill lies on the beach of a barrier island near East Grand Terre Island, La. (AP)

June 6: Hermit crabs struggle to cross a patch of oil from the the Deepwater Horizon spill on a barrier island near East Grand Terre Island, La. (AP)

June 6: Environmental Defense Fund coastal scientist Angelina Freeman takes a sample of oil while surveying the conditions of Bartaria Bay near Venice, Louisiana. Oil from BP's out-of-control Gulf of Mexico oil spill could threaten the Mississippi and Alabama coasts this week, U.S. forecasters said, as public anger surged over the nation's worst environmental disaster. (Reuters)

June 6: A journalist walks past a dead Brown Pelican covered in oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill lies on the beach of a barrier island near East Grand Terre Island, La. (AP)

June 6: Hermit crabs struggle to cross a patch of oil from the the Deepwater Horizon spill on a barrier island near East Grand Terre Island, La. (AP)