White House press secretary Robert Gibbs, right, shows a chart as NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco discusses the BP oil spill at the White House.
The “vast majority” of crude from BP's damaged Gulf of Mexico well is gone and the rest is being broken down by waves and bacteria, reducing the threat of further pollution from the largest maritime oil spill, White House energy adviser Carol Browner said.
Fishermen contracted to help collect oiled boom go about their work in Barataria Bay, La.
In this image from video, oil flows out of the top of the transition spool, which was placed into the gushing wellhead and will house the new containment cap.
Florida Gov. Charlie Crist and former U.S. senator Bob Graham, a member of the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling, meet with officials and representatives from the Panhandle at the Santa Rosa Island Authority on Pensacola Beach in Pensacola Fla. The commission visited affected coastal communities in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida during the weekend.
A garbage truck dumps oil tar balls and debris into a landfill in Harrison County, Miss.
The Taiwanese skimmer dubbed "A Whale" conducts a shakedown voyage to evaluate its oil skimming capabilities in the Gulf of Mexico. "A Whale" is collecting surface oil from about 7 miles from the site of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The ship, which is longer than three U.S. football fields, is specially modified to collect up to 500,000 barrels of crude oil a day from the surface.
The ship was recently converted in Lisbon, Portugal, in June with the hope that it could dramatically increase the amount of oil recovered from the BP oil spill.
From left to right, Gina Durell, Island Durell and Linda Harrison of Pensacola, Fla., watch as crews clean up oil washed ashore on Pensacola Beach.
Portable toilets stand on the beach as a sunbather plays with her dog in the waters off Dauphin Island, Ala. The portable bathrooms are for the use of oil cleanup crews as they work to defend the coast against oil from the Deepwater Horizon disaster.
From left, Holly, Christina and Jay Casso pray at St. Anthony Church in Lafitte, La., on Sunday. A resolution by Louisiana state Sen. Robert Adley, a Republican, designated June 20 the day to pray for an end to the Gulf of Mexico oil crisis.