July 1–5

• July 1
• Total estimated discharge since the start reaches 140600000 gallons (532,228.9 m³) – topping 140 million USgals (529,957.7 m³) Ixtoc I oil spill that was the previous biggest in the Gulf of Mexico
  Gulf of Mexico
  The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...
  
  .
• Senate Republicans agree to lift secret hold
  Secret hold
  In the United States Senate, a hold is a parliamentary procedure permitted by the Standing Rules of the United States Senate which allows one or more Senators to prevent a motion from reaching a vote on the Senate floor....
  
   that Jim DeMint
  Jim DeMint
  James Warren "Jim" DeMint is the junior U.S. Senator from South Carolina, serving since 2005. He is a member of the Republican Party and a leader in the Tea Party movement. He previously served as the U.S. Representative for from 1999 to 2005.-Early life and education:DeMint was born in...
  
   placed to block legislation giving subpoena
  Subpoena
  A subpoena is a writ by a government agency, most often a court, that has authority to compel testimony by a witness or production of evidence under a penalty for failure. There are two common types of subpoena:...
  
   powers to the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling
  National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling
  The National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling is a bipartisan presidential commission, established by Executive Order 13543 signed by Barack Obama on May 21, 2010, that is “tasked with providing recommendations on how the United States can prevent and mitigate...
  
   . Wesley Denton, DeMint’s spokesman, says, “"Senator DeMint does not and will not have an objection to this legislation…He simply objected on behalf of other senators who had not been given time to review the bill. Now that they've had time to review it, it seems no one has an objection."
• Kenneth Feinberg
  Kenneth Feinberg
  Kenneth Feinberg is an American attorney, specializing in mediation and alternative dispute resolution. Feinberg was appointed Special Master of the U.S...
  
   tells the House Small Business Committee that tourist-related businesses may not be able to collect from the fund set aside to pay damages. "If there's no physical damage to the beaches and it's a public perception, I venture to say that it is not compensable,” he testifies.
• The supertanker  Whale]], belonging to TMT Shipping of Taiwan
  Taiwan
  Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
  
   arrives at Boothville, Louisiana. It is billed at the “world’s largest skimmer.” It reports it can skim 21000000 gallons (79,493.7 m³) a day – 250 times the capacity of the fishing boats being used. It is awaiting approval to be used.
• Hurricane Alex is downgraded to tropical storm and comes ashore in Mexico. 510 skimmers have been sent into port.
• National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
  The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health is the United States’ federal agency responsible for conducting research and making recommendations for the prevention of work-related injury and illness. NIOSH is part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention within the U.S...
  
   and Occupational Safety and Health Administration
  Occupational Safety and Health Administration
  The United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration is an agency of the United States Department of Labor. It was created by Congress of the United States under the Occupational Safety and Health Act, signed by President Richard M. Nixon, on December 29, 1970...
  
   establish recommendations for using respirators. They are particularly recommended for those where oil is being burned and voluntarily recommended elsewhere.
• BP issues cards to employees and contractors telling them they are free to talk to the press.

• July 2
• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
  National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
  The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration , pronounced , like "noah", is a scientific agency within the United States Department of Commerce focused on the conditions of the oceans and the atmosphere...
  
   issues models of the probability of oil coming a shore based on historical winds and currents. The model show that Texas has a 1% chance of getting hit but that Florida Keys
  Florida Keys
  The Florida Keys are a coral archipelago in southeast United States. They begin at the southeastern tip of the Florida peninsula, about south of Miami, and extend in a gentle arc south-southwest and then westward to Key West, the westernmost of the inhabited islands, and on to the uninhabited Dry...
  
  , Miami, Florida
  Miami, Florida
  Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...
  
  , and Fort Lauderdale, Florida
  Fort Lauderdale, Florida
  Fort Lauderdale is a city in the U.S. state of Florida, on the Atlantic coast. It is the county seat of Broward County. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 165,521. It is a principal city of the South Florida metropolitan area, which was home to 5,564,635 people at the 2010...
  
   areas have a greater probability (61%–80%) due to the potential influence of the Loop Current
  Loop Current
  A parent to the Florida Current, the Loop Current is a warm ocean current in the Gulf of Mexico that flows northward between Cuba and the Yucatán peninsula, moves north into the Gulf of Mexico, loops east and south before exiting to the east through the Florida Straits and joining the Gulf Stream.A...
  
  .
• Allen says that number of skimmers in the Gulf should increase from 550 currently to 750 by mid-July and more by August.
• Allen says that Hurricane Alex delayed the deployment of the Helix Producer and they are now on track for it come online on July 7 allowing collection of up to 53000 barrels (8,426.3 m³) a a day with the existing cap. A second vertical riser is being installed and it is hoped will go into operation by July 15. For everything to function a new cap will have to be installed. Allen reports an autonomous sub-sea dispersant delivery system has been proposed by BP for delivering disperants in case a hurricane forces the recovery operations to be suspended. The proposal is pending authorization. Allen says that options in case the relief wells do not work are establishing pipelines to production facilities up to 5 miles (8 km) away ad then pumping it back down into the reservoir. Another option is to simply continue pump oil out of the well if the cap is successful.
• Paul Zukunft says impact of Alex continued seven foot waves at the well site and 50 percent of the overflights were canceled. The A Whale begins trials.
• FEMA trailers used in Hurricane Katrina
  Hurricane Katrina
  Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
  
   are reported to be being used by BP to house employees. The Katrina trailers had issues with contaminated with formaldehyde
  Formaldehyde
  Formaldehyde is an organic compound with the formula CH2O. It is the simplest aldehyde, hence its systematic name methanal.Formaldehyde is a colorless gas with a characteristic pungent odor. It is an important precursor to many other chemical compounds, especially for polymers...
  
   and had rules about their reuse. They do not have the serial numbers. Zukunft says they are not the Katrina trailers.
• New York Times reports on Camp Hope
  Camp Hope
  Camp Hope , is a volunteer base camp located in a former school in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana. Camp Hope has welcomed people from all over the United States and all over the world who have come to participate in the massive recovery efforts of St...
  
   in Arabi, Louisiana
  Arabi, Louisiana
  Arabi is a census-designated place in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana on the East Bank of the Mississippi River, between the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans, Louisiana and Chalmette within the Greater New Orleans Metropolitan area...
  
   which was being used for rebuilding from Hurricane Katrina
  Hurricane Katrina
  Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
  
  . BP has spent $600,000 on renovations to house 300 oil spill personnel.
• Study by researchers from the Imperial College London
  Imperial College London
  Imperial College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom, specialising in science, engineering, business and medicine...
  
   published in Water Research
  Water Research
  Water Research is a journal of the International Water Association, and publishes research on the science and technology of water quality and its management....
  
   says that oil interferes with the “ocean’s natural filtration system, allowing arsenic
  Arsenic
  Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As, atomic number 33 and relative atomic mass 74.92. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in conjunction with sulfur and metals, and also as a pure elemental crystal. It was first documented by Albertus Magnus in 1250.Arsenic is a metalloid...
  
   levels to build up and threaten the long-term health of marine plants and animals.”

• July 3
• Unified Command issues press release which says, "The risk of weathered oil and tar balls from the Deepwater Horizon/BP oil spill coming to the Florida Peninsula and the Florida Keys remains low under current ocean and wind conditions. NOAA’s long-term projection model released yesterday focused on the possible long-term shoreline threats and not on current wind and ocean conditions in the Gulf of Mexico...The model considers conditions that are typical for this time of year to evaluate long-term likelihood of threats to different shorelines. Current conditions, especially given the absence of a significant amount of Deepwater Horizon/BP oil from the loop current, indicate that immediate threats to the Florida Keys, Miami and Ft. Lauderdale areas remain low."

• July 4
• Don Ballard, the operations director for the Grand Isle branch of the Unified Command, says in a press release, "There is a long-term treatment plan for Grand Isle which includes the collection and washing of oiled sand including buried oil...Part of this plan includes collecting and storing oiled sand in piles for later cleaning. At no time has clean sand been used by clean-up crews to cover or bury oil or oiled sand."
• The facility to treat oily birds at Fort Jackson, Louisiana
  Fort Jackson, Louisiana
  Fort Jackson is a decommissioned masonry fort located some up river from the mouth of the Mississippi River in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana. It was constructed as a coastal defense of New Orleans between 1822 and 1832, and was a battle site in the American Civil War. It is a National Historic...
  
   is moved to Hammond, Louisiana
  Hammond, Louisiana
  Hammond is the largest city in Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 20,049 at the 2009 census. It is home to Southeastern Louisiana University...
  
   to avoid hurricane complications.
• The Unified Command issues a press release noting that its exclusion zone around booms is to protect the booms from damage and not to exclude press. "These 20-meter zones are only slightly longer than the distance from a baseball pitcher's mound to home plate. This distance is insignificant when gathering images. In fact, these zones, which do not target the press, can and have been opened for reporters as required. It is unfortunate that the safety zones are needed at all, but the responsibility of officials is to wage the most effective and safest response possible while best supporting factual and open reporting. That will continue until BP caps its leaking well and the cleanup is complete."
• Unified Command releases story 10-year-old Ian Masson who raised $445 in a "Pennies for Pelicans" campaign in Michigan.

• July 5
• BP says the spills outright cost is $3.12 billion and that so far it has received 95,000 claims and made around 47,000 payments. It says it has collected or flared 585400 barrels (93,071.2 m³), skimmed 673497 barrels (107,077.5 m³) and had control burns of 238000 barrels (37,839 m³).
• Weather Service predicts wave heights of 3 to 6 feet (1.8 m) through July 8. Helix Producer cannot connect with heights greater than 3 feet.
• Unified Command reports 1,000 Heavy Oil Recovery Devices (HORD) being manufactured in Pensacola, Florida
  Pensacola, Florida
  Pensacola is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle and the county seat of Escambia County, Florida, United States of America. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 56,255 and as of 2009, the estimated population was 53,752...
  
   and Bayou La Batre, Alabama
  Bayou La Batre, Alabama
  Bayou La Batre is a town in Mobile County, Alabama, United States. It is included in the Mobile metropolitan statistical area. At the 2000 census, the population was 2,313. According to the 2005 U.S. Census estimates, the city had a population of 2,725....
  
   are expected to come online within the next few weeks. The device invented by Gerry Matherne to deal with the unique situaton in the Gulf. Previous skimmers focused on surface oil whereas the current oil is degraded to peanut butter consistency and 12 to 18 inches below the surface. The device is described as "A mesh bag held open by a 3 foot (0.9144 m) by 3 foot (0.9144 m) aluminum frame is dragged through the water by shrimp boats put into service as skimmers. The cage-like device scoops up surface oil and sheen, as well as the thick oil lurking beneath the surface of the water."
• Small amount of tarballs wash ashore on the Bolivar Peninsula, northeast of Galveston, Texas
  Galveston, Texas
  Galveston is a coastal city located on Galveston Island in the U.S. state of Texas. , the city had a total population of 47,743 within an area of...
  
   and on Galveston Island itself. This is the first report of tarballs in Texas.
• Oil is reported at Rigolets
  Rigolets
  The Rigolets is a 12.9 kilometer long strait in Louisiana.It begins at and follows a generally eastward course to Lake Borgne, which is a lagoon in the Gulf of Mexico, where it ends at . Along with nearby Chef Menteur Pass, the Rigolets connects Lake Pontchartrain and Lake St. Catherine to Lake...
  
   raising fears it will hit Lake Pontchartrain
  Lake Pontchartrain
  Lake Pontchartrain is a brackish estuary located in southeastern Louisiana. It is the second-largest inland saltwater body of water in the United States, after the Great Salt Lake in Utah, and the largest lake in Louisiana. As an estuary, Pontchartrain is not a true lake.It covers an area of with...
  
  .
• Shokri Ghanem, chairman of National Oil Corporation
  National Oil Corporation
  The National Oil Corporation is the national oil company of Libya. It dominates Libya's oil industry, along with a number of smaller subsidiaries, which combined account for around 70% the country's oil output...
  
   urges the Libyan Investment Authority
  Libyan Investment Authority
  The Libyan Investment Authority is a government entity headquartered in Tripoli, Libya. It was established on August 28, 2006, by Decree 208 of the General People's Committee of Libya with estimated capital of $70 billion...
  
   to increase its share of BP because "BP shares are good value for bargain hunters."
• Tests on the A Whale prove inconclusive because of high waves.
• National Hurricane Center
  National Hurricane Center
  The National Hurricane Center , located at Florida International University in Miami, Florida, is the division of the National Weather Service responsible for tracking and predicting weather systems within the tropics between the Prime Meridian and the 140th meridian west poleward to the 30th...
  
   says there is a 60 percent chance that a disorganized, low-pressure system could develop into a tropical storm before moving inland July 5 or 6.
• U.S. Navy Blimp American Blimp MZ-3
  American Blimp MZ-3
  The MZ-3A is a blimp owned by the United States Navy since 2006.It is a modified American Blimp Corporation A-170 series commercial blimp and given the USN type/model/series designation MZ-3A and Bureau Number 167811...
  
   deployed to Jack Edwards National Airport in Gulf Shores, Alabama
  Gulf Shores, Alabama
  -External links:*...
  
  . It is to be moored 3 miles (5 km) southeast of the Mobile Bay
  Mobile Bay
  Mobile Bay is an inlet of the Gulf of Mexico, lying within the state of Alabama in the United States. Its mouth is formed by the Fort Morgan Peninsula on the eastern side and Dauphin Island, a barrier island on the western side. The Mobile River and Tensaw River empty into the northern end of the...
  
   shoreline.
• Barclays PLC
  Barclays plc
  Barclays PLC is a global banking and financial services company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. As of 2010 it was the world's 10th-largest banking and financial services group and 21st-largest company according to a composite measure by Forbes magazine...
  
  , BNP Paribas SA, Citigroup Inc., Banco Santander SA, HSBC Holdings PLC, Royal Bank of Canada
  Royal Bank of Canada
  The Royal Bank of Canada or RBC Financial Group is the largest financial institution in Canada, as measured by deposits, revenues, and market capitalization. The bank serves seventeen million clients and has 80,100 employees worldwide. The company corporate headquarters are located in Toronto,...
  
  , Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC and Société Générale SA are reported preparing a plan to give BP a $9 billion standby letter of credit.
• New York Times reports that The Economist
  The Economist
  The Economist is an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd. and edited in offices in the City of Westminster, London, England. Continuous publication began under founder James Wilson in September 1843...
  
  magazine is involved in a photo manipulation
  Photo manipulation
  Photo manipulation is the application of image editing techniques to photographs in order to create an illusion or deception , through analog or digital means.- Types of digital photo manipulation :...
  
   controversy over its altering a Reuters
  Reuters
  Reuters is a news agency headquartered in New York City. Until 2008 the Reuters news agency formed part of a British independent company, Reuters Group plc, which was also a provider of financial market data...
  
   photo by Larry Downing on May 28 of Barack Obama with Thad W. Allen and Charlotte Randolph (Lafourche Parish, Louisiana
  Lafourche Parish, Louisiana
  Lafourche Parish is a parish located in the south of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It was originally the northern part of Lafourche Interior Parish, which consisted of the present parishes of Lafourche and Terrebonne. The parish seat is Thibodaux...
  
   president) on the beach in front an oil rig. In the photo Allen and Randolph were removed. Obama was looking down at beach debris and what he was looking at was also cropped The photo was on the June 19 cover with the headline "Obama v. BP." Emma Duncan, deputy editor of The Economist, responded "I asked for Ms. Randolph to be removed because I wanted readers to focus on Mr. Obama, not because I wanted to make him look isolated. That wasn’t the point of the story. “The damage beyond the spill” referred to on the cover, and examined in the cover leader, was the damage not to Mr. Obama, but to business in America."

July 6–10

• July 6
• BP shares jump 6.5% in one day after it announces it will not issue more shares.
• Helix Energy Solutions Group CEO Owen Kratz says BP waited 6 weeks until June 10 before accepting an offer to use Helix Producer I at the spill. The Producer has a larger capacity than the Deepwater Horizon
  Deepwater Horizon
  Deepwater Horizon was an ultra-deepwater, dynamically positioned, semi-submersible offshore oil drilling rig owned by Transocean. Built in 2001 in South Korea by Hyundai Heavy Industries, the rig was commissioned by R&B Falcon, which later became part of Transocean, registered in Majuro, Marshall...
  
  .
• July 7
• New website RestoreTheGulf.gov to replace deepwaterhorizonresponse.com as the official federal government website for the spill.
• Allen says Development Driller III is within 15 feet (4.6 m) horizontally of the wellbore but wants to intercept it another 200 to 225 feet (68.6 m) further down.
• Allen says Helix Producer is partially connected and should go into operation by July 10.
• CNN reports that BP may have to pay the U.S. 18.75% royalties for oil coming gushing out of the well.
• Criticism erupts over Bobby Jindal
  Bobby Jindal
  Piyush "Bobby" Jindal is the 55th and current Governor of Louisiana and formerly a member of the United States House of Representatives. He is a member of the Republican Party....
  
   plan to build rock islands off the Louisiana coast from scientists and government officials who say it would disrupt the ecosystem.
• July 8
• United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
  United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
  The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:* Eastern District of Louisiana* Middle District of Louisiana...
  
   in 2-1 vote refuses to overturn oil drilling moratorium in Hornbeck Offshore Services LLC v. Salazar
  Hornbeck Offshore Services LLC v. Salazar
  Hornbeck Offshore Services v. Salazar is an on-going case in United States federal court. In the wake of the Deepwater Horizon explosion and the subsequent oil spill, the U.S. Department of the Interior issued a six month moratorium on exploratory drilling in deep water. Plaintiffs filed suit...
  
  . Administration says it will issue a new moratorium. Alliance for Justice
  Alliance for Justice
  Alliance for Justice is a national association of environmental, civil rights, mental health, women's, children's and consumer advocacy organizations in the USA....
  
   reports that two of the appeals justices Jerry E. Smith
  Jerry E. Smith
  Jerry E. Smith, nickname "Poindexter" was an author, lecturer, poet, and editor. His published works include three books from Adventures Unlimited Press , scores of non-fiction articles and reviews, and more than a dozen ghost-written books. He was a close friend and literary partner of author Jim...
  
   and W. Eugene Davis
  W. Eugene Davis
  W. Eugene Davis is a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. His chambers are in Lafayette, Louisiana.Born in Winfield, Alabama, Davis attended the University of Alabama and Samford University. After three years at Samford, he received a scholarship to Tulane University...
  
   had represented the oil and gas industries while in private practice. It reported that the third justice James L. Dennis
  James L. Dennis
  James L. Dennis is a United States federal judge currently serving on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. His chambers are in New Orleans, Louisiana....
  
   who dissented had investments in at least 18 energy companies valued at between $31,000 and $300,000.
• Nevada Senate candidate Sharron Angle
  Sharron Angle
  Sharron Elaine Angle is an American politician who served as a Republican member of the Nevada Assembly from 1999 to 2007. She ran unsuccessfully as the 2010 Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate seat in Nevada, garnering 45 percent of the vote...
  
   tells KXNT
  KXNT
  KXNT is a radio station licensed to North Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. It is owned by CBS Radio carrying a talk format Programming on KXNT-AM is simulcast on its sister FM signal KXNT-FM, 100.5 FM in the greater Las Vegas area.-History:...
  
   she was wrong in calling BP oil's $20 billion victims' compensation program "a slush fund," backtracking just hours after her widely criticized remark.
• CNN reports BP is becoming increasingly stringent with its demands for documentation from victims filing claims for lost wages and income.
• Bob Dudley
  Bob Dudley
  Robert "Bob" Dudley is the CEO of BP. He had served as President and Chief Executive of TNK-BP and on June 18, 2010, was assigned to be BP executive in charge of the Gulf Coast Restoration Organisation responding to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.-Early life:Dudley was born in Queens, New York,...
  
   tells the Wall Street Journal "In a perfect world with no interruptions, it's possible to be ready to stop the well between July 20 and July 27." He cautioned that hurricanes could change that schedule.
• Allen says that now is a weather window between tropical storms that would permit replacing the cap with a new cap that would be securely fasten to the blowout preventer that would be capable of capturing all of the oil believed to be coming out of the well. The cap would serve the existing rigs plus Helix Producer.
• Allen sends letter to Dudley asking for a detailed timeline on the cap and contingency plans in case it fails.
• July 9
• BP says it will replace the cap on the gusher on July 10.
• BP reports 2-butoxyethanol
  2-Butoxyethanol
  2-Butoxyethanol is an organic solvent with the formula BuOC2H4OH . It is a colorless liquid with a sweet, ether-like odour. It is a butyl ether of ethylene glycol...
  
   was detected at levels up to 10 parts per million (ppm) in more than 20 percent of offshore responders and 15 percent of those near shore.
• Anadarko informs BP that it is withholding the $272 million it was billed for the spill.
• Democratic National Committee
  Democratic National Committee
  The Democratic National Committee is the principal organization governing the United States Democratic Party on a day to day basis. While it is responsible for overseeing the process of writing a platform every four years, the DNC's central focus is on campaign and political activity in support...
  
   sets up website BPRepublicans.com in the wake of Angle’s comments.
• Authorities say the Texas tarballs reported July 5 were not from the BP spill.
• July 10
• Old cap removed from well at 12:37 p.m. CDT in preparation for a new cap. Oil is expected to flow unabated into the Gulf for 48 hours.
• Paul Zukunft to replace James A. Watson
  James A. Watson
  James A. Watson is a United States Coast Guard Rear Admiral.Watson became Deputy Commander, Coast Guard Atlantic Area Command in April 2010. Among his duties is Federal On Scene Coordinator of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. He succeeded Mary Landry on June 1, 2010 in that position...
  
   as the Federal On-Scene Coordinator (the third coordinator since the spill)
• Reports indicate an unexpected crushed second pipe is in the blowout preventer
  Blowout preventer
  A blowout preventer is a large, specialized valve used to seal, control and monitor oil and gas wells. Blowout preventers were developed to cope with extreme erratic pressures and uncontrolled flow emanating from a well reservoir during drilling. Kicks can lead to a potentially catastrophic...
  
  . The pipe is believed to have either been blown up and fallen down in the initial explosion on the rig. Its presence prevented the shears from severing the riser from the well and closing it.

July 11–15

• July 11
• Discoverer Inspiration delivers the new cap to the site and Discoverer Enterprise moves off its site above the leak.
• National Center for Atmospheric Research
  National Center for Atmospheric Research
  The National Center for Atmospheric Research has multiple facilities, including the I. M. Pei-designed Mesa Laboratory headquarters in Boulder, Colorado. NCAR is managed by the nonprofit University Corporation for Atmospheric Research and sponsored by the National Science Foundation...
  
   and University of Hawaii at Manoa
  University of Hawaii at Manoa
  The University of Hawaii at Mānoa is a public, co-educational university and is the flagship campus of the greater University of Hawaii system...
  
   release studies saying that if the spill continues to September 17 oil could reach the Carolinas, Georgia and Northern Florida by October 2010.
• BP reported to be in contact with Apache Corporation
  Apache Corporation
  Apache Corporation is an American independent oil and gas corporation. It is headquartered in 1 Post Oak Central in the Uptown district of Houston, Texas....
  
   to sell its Alaska oil fields.
• BP
  BP
  BP p.l.c. is a global oil and gas company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest energy company and fourth-largest company in the world measured by revenues and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors"...
  
   (38%), China National Petroleum Corp. (37%) and Iraq's South Oil Co. (25%) sign contract for operation and management of the Rumaila oil field in Iraq
  Iraq
  Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
  
  .
• July 12
• Three ram capping stack installed on the Deep Water Horizon LMRP at 7 p.m. CDT (0000 GMT). The stack completes the installation of the new 40-ton containment device sealing cap. Tests begin on testing well integrity.
• Helix Producer begins containment procedures and then is disconnected to allow tests of the new cap.
• Salzar issues a new moratorium until November 30 on deepwater wells that use a blowout preventer
  Blowout preventer
  A blowout preventer is a large, specialized valve used to seal, control and monitor oil and gas wells. Blowout preventers were developed to cope with extreme erratic pressures and uncontrolled flow emanating from a well reservoir during drilling. Kicks can lead to a potentially catastrophic...
  
  . It is different from the one stayed in June 21 in that it does not specify water depth but rather specifies the type of equipment. The suspension tells "BOEM to direct the suspension of any authorized drilling of wells using subsea or surface BOPs on a floating facility... cease the approval of pending and future applications for permits to drill wells using subsea or surface BOPs on a floating facility."
• Florida panhandle hotels roll out a campaign saying they will issue refunds "if the beaches or water are deemed inaccessible by local officials."
• National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling
  National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling
  The National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling is a bipartisan presidential commission, established by Executive Order 13543 signed by Barack Obama on May 21, 2010, that is “tasked with providing recommendations on how the United States can prevent and mitigate...
  
   begins two days of hearings at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside
  Hilton New Orleans Riverside
  Hilton New Orleans Riverside, located at 2 Poydras Street in the Central Business District of New Orleans, Louisiana, is a 29-story, -tall skyscraper. The hotel is part of the Hilton Hotels chain. A portion of the building complex overlooks the Mississippi River front...
  
  .
• Dave Valentine of UC Santa Barbara and Chris Reddy
  Christopher M. Reddy
  Christopher M. Reddy is a scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in the Department of Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry and the Director of the Institution’s Coastal Ocean Institute. He studies oil spills, other forms of marine pollution, and biofuels...
  
   of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute wrote concerning increased elevation of methane near the well “total quantity of methane and other hydrocarbons is enough to cause problems with the regional ecosystem, there is no plausible scenario by which this event alone will cause global-scale extinctions.” The article also notes that Permiamn event lasted a millennium and was not an overnight event.
• July 13
• BP delays a test to see if the cap can be fully closed to shut off the well. BP wants to further evaluate the well environment to make sure that if it shuts the valve it does not cause the well to erupt through the sea floor because it is unknown if the wellbore is compromised.
• MOEX Offshore 2007 LLC refuses to pay $111 million BP has billed it.
• Administration bills BP $99.7 million for clean up operations. This is the fourth bill. BP paid $122.3 million in the three earlier bills.
• New York Senators Kirsten Gillibrand
  Kirsten Gillibrand
  Kirsten Elizabeth Rutnik Gillibrand is an attorney and the junior United States Senator from the state of New York and a member of the Democratic Party...
  
   and Chuck Schumer and New Jersey Senators Robert Menendez
  Robert Menendez
  Robert "Bob" Menendez is the junior United States Senator from New Jersey and a member of the Democratic Party. In January 2006, he was appointed to fill the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Jon Corzine, who resigned upon being elected Governor of New Jersey. Menendez was elected to his own full...
  
   and Frank Lautenberg
  Frank Lautenberg
  Frank Raleigh Lautenberg is the senior United States Senator from New Jersey and a member of the Democratic Party. Previously, he was the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Automatic Data Processing, Inc.-Early life, career, and family:...
  
   ask Hillary Clinton of the United States State Department to investigate whether BP had a role in the 2009 British decision to release to Libya of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi who was accused of participating in the Lockerbie bombing. BP subsequently entered a deal with Libya for oil in that country. BP spokesman Mark Salt in replying to the news said that BP had in fact expressed concerns to the British government that a delay in the transfer "might have negative consequences for UK commercial interests, including ratification of BP’s exploration agreement." However the spokesman added that the transfer "was solely a matter for the Scottish Executive and not for the UK Government."
• The National Academy of Engineering
  National Academy of Engineering
  The National Academy of Engineering is a government-created non-profit institution in the United States, that was founded in 1964 under the same congressional act that led to the founding of the National Academy of Sciences...
  
   appoints a panel to investigate the technical failures that resulted in the gulf oil spill in the "project Analysis of Causes of the Deepwater Horizon Explosion, Fire, and Oil Spill to Identify Measures to Prevent Similar Accidents in the Future." Donald C. Winter
  Donald C. Winter
  Donald Charles Winter is an American businessman who served as United States Secretary of the Navy. A former top executive of Northrop Grumman, he was nominated in 2005 by President George W. Bush, confirmed by the United States Senate, and took the oath of office on January 3, 2006...
  
  , a former secretary of the Navy, will lead the group, which is to issue an interim report in October and a final report next year.
• July 14
• After the government approves test about 4 pm to see if the cap can be closed, containment vessels disconnect and oil flows freely into the Gulf as BP begins slowly closing the valves.
• BP and other energy companies with track records of safety violations would be barred from applying for new drilling permits under a proposal approved by the United States House Committee on Natural Resources on amendment to H.R. 3534, "Consolidated Land, Energy, and Aquatic Resources Act of 2009" offered by George Miller. BP is not named specifically but the amendment says, "Companies also must be able to certify that they were not assessed more than $10 million in civil penalties and criminal fines for violations of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act over the preceding seven years."
• The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEM) and U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) to conduct on July 19–23, 2010 a third session of the Joint Investigation into the Deepwater Horizon Incident. This will be the third set of hearings, following two days of initial hearings May 11 and 12 and a second round May 26–29. Both sets of previous hearings featured tough questioning by the panelists and sometimes explosive testimony.
• July 15
• At 5 am a leak is discovered and the test is halted while the leak is repaired. Between 10:30 am and 12:30 pm oil was cut off to the Q4000 and Helix Producer. At 1:15 p.m. the test on the new cap (effectively a smaller blowout preventer connected to the original damaged blowout preventer) closing the well begins. At 2:25 p.m. BP says that no flow of oil is going into the Gulf. A successful test will show constant pressure of 8000 to 9000 psi in the cap and the well could effectively stop the spill. If there are fluctuations the cap will be then divert oil to the containment ships until the relief well is put in place.
• Thad Allen cautions in a statement, "It remains likely that we will return to the containment process using this new stacking cap connected to the risers to attempt to collect up to 80,000 barrels of oil per day until the relief well is completed."
• Michael R. Bromwich
  Michael R. Bromwich
  Michael R. Bromwich is a litigation attorney who was designated by Barack Obama on June 15, 2010, to be the first director of the newly created Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, which replaces the Minerals Management Service in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon oil...
  
  , director of Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement sends BP a letter informing it must report "oil and gas-related activities associated with the Macondo well using Form MMS-4054” Further he says per the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act BP is required to pay royalties immediately for all oil and gas captured from the Macondo well.

July 16–20

• July 16
• Kent Wells in his morning technical briefing reports Development Driller III
  Development Driller III
  Development Driller III is a fifth generation, Vanuatu-flagged dynamic positioning semi-submersible ultra-deepwater drilling rig owned by Transocean and operated under lease agreements by various petroleum exploration and production companies worldwide...
  
  has resumed its activities which had been suspended for the test. Wells says pressure in the cap is 6,700 psi. It needs to get to 8,000 psi or more to ensure there are no leaks.
• Allen says that he is concerned about the low pressure in the containment cap but that it might be a sign of depletion rather than leaking of the well. “This is generally good news…But we want to be careful not to do any harm or create a situation that could not be reversed.”
• Wells in his afternoon briefing says the depletion scenario was one of the models being considered going into the test. He adds that the casing below the blowout preventer is the same temperature as surrounding sea water. He notes that if oil were flowing it would be warmer. He says the relief well is within 30 feet (9.1 m) of its interception point. It is currently 5 feet (1.5 m) horizontally from the wellbore.
• Zukunft says the A Whale
  A Whale
  A Whale is a Liberian-flagged ore-oil carrier built in 2010 by Hyundai Heavy Industries, Ulsan, South Korea for Taiwan Maritime Transport Co. Ltd. from the Republic of China...
  
   supertanker/skimmer will not be used because following tests “after significant effort, the amount of oil recovered was negligible, and limited oil beyond a sheen was found in the cargo tank” and that the much smaller skimmers on scene were more agile and effective.
• BP is reported offering signing bonuses and lucrative pay to prominent scientists to aid in its Natural Resources Damage Assessment defense. According to the Press-Register
  Press-Register
  The Press-Register is a daily newspaper serving the southwest Alabama counties of Mobile and Baldwin. The newspaper is a descendant of one founded in 1813, making the Press-Register Alabama's oldest newspaper...
  
   BP is offering $250/hour. The contract is purported to prohibit "the scientists from publishing their research, sharing it with other scientists or speaking about the data that they collect for at least the next three years" and requires scientists "to agree to withhold data even in the face of a court order if BP decides to fight such an order. It stipulates that scientists will be paid only for research approved in writing by BP." Researchers from Louisiana State University
  Louisiana State University
  Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, most often referred to as Louisiana State University, or LSU, is a public coeducational university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The University was founded in 1853 in what is now known as Pineville, Louisiana, under the name...
  
  , University of Southern Mississippi and Texas A&M are reported to have accepted offers.
• July 17
• Allen says "When this test is eventually stopped, we will immediately return to containment, using the new, tighter sealing cap with both the Helix Producer and the Q4000. Additional collection capacity of up to 80,000 barrels per day is also being added in the coming days. Don Van Nieuwenhuise, director of Petroleum Geoscience Programs at the University of Houston
  University of Houston
  The University of Houston is a state research university, and is the flagship institution of the University of Houston System. Founded in 1927, it is Texas's third-largest university with nearly 40,000 students. Its campus spans 667 acres in southeast Houston, and was known as University of...
  
  , says “Thad Allen wants to do containment because they want to find out what the real flow rate was...Unless they do something like that, they’ll almost never be able to prove what the true flow rate was.”
• July 18
• Doug Suttles noting pressure is at 6,778 psi and there is no indication of leaks says BP plans to keep the cap closed at least until the relief well takes effect. Thad Allen says that the status is only a test and that there will be extensions only in 24-hour increments. Allen said "nothing has changed about the joint agreement announced yesterday between BP and the US government. The ongoing well integrity test will continue until 4 p.m. EST today, with the potential for additional extensions in 24-hour increments. As a condition of the extension, the US government has required significant new monitoring and periodic evaluation and approval by our science team."
• Thad Allen late in the day sent a letter to Dudley telling him "Given the current observations from the test, including the detected seep a distance from the well and undetermined anomalies at the well...I direct you to provide me a written procedure for opening the choke valve as quickly as possible without damaging the well should hydrocarbon seepage near the well head be confirmed."
• July 19
• Thad Allen says that a conference call between federal science team and BP officials gave the science team "the answers they were seeking and the commitment from BP to meet their monitoring and notification obligations." He authorizes the test to continue another 24 hours. Allen says that the reported leak two miles (3 km) from the well "was a natural occurrence and not related to a pressure test to assess the well’s condition"
• Kent Wells says BP is considering a "static kill" of the well using heavy mud bumped through the new cap in a process known as bullheading
  Well kill
  A well kill is the operation of placing a column of heavy fluid into a well bore in order to prevent the flow of reservoir fluids without the need for pressure control equipment at the surface. It works on the principle that the weight of the "kill fluid" or "kill mud" will be enough to suppress...
  
  .
• Zukunft reports 40,122 people; 5,640 vessels; and 116 aircraft (including a recently added Bombardier Dash 8 from Icelandic Coast Guard
  Icelandic Coast Guard
  The Icelandic Coast Guard is the service responsible for Iceland's coastal defense and maritime and aeronautical search and rescue. Origins of the Icelandic Coast Guard can be traced to 1859, when the corvette Ørnen started patrolling Icelandic waters...
  
  ) are deployed adding the "operational plan is based on the worst case scenario."
• The Deepwater Horizon joint investigation board concluded the first day of the third session of hearings into the circumstances surrounding the explosion, fire, pollution and sinking. The third session is being conducted with the focus on the "how" and the "why" (which might also be considered the "technical verification" phase). Witnesses were; W Stephen Bertone (Transocean
  Transocean
  Transocean Ltd. is one of the world's largest offshore drilling contractors. The company rents floating mobile drill rigs, along with the equipment and personnel for operations, to oil and gas companies at an average daily rate of US$282,700...
  
  , Chief Engineer), Lance John (Weatherford International
  Weatherford International
  Weatherford International Oil Field Services Ltd is one of the largest international oil and natural gas service companies. The company provides products and services for drilling, evaluation, completion, production and intervention of oil and natural gas wells, along with pipeline construction...
  
  , Rig System Specialist); Leo Linder (MI-Swaco, Drilling Fluid Specialist) Bertone testified there were deferred maintenance projects on the rig and there was a “possibility that alarms and other crucial systems were bypassed or not functioning at the time of the explosion” He testified the computer station where the rig's driller sits “had temporarily lost electrical power days before the blowout.” He said following the explosion he “heard no general alarm, there were no internal communications and no power to the engines, and none of the Deepwater Horizon's backup or emergency generators were working.” He said because there was no power workers could not engage the emergency disconnect system that would have halted the flow of oil from the wellhead.
• BP is accused of photo manipulation
  Photo manipulation
  Photo manipulation is the application of image editing techniques to photographs in order to create an illusion or deception , through analog or digital means.- Types of digital photo manipulation :...
  
   in a photo of its Highly Immersive Visualization Environment (HIVE) control room at the company's U.S. headquarters in Westlake Park (Houston)
  Westlake Park (Houston)
  Westlake Park is a office complex located in the Energy Corridor, Houston, Texas, United States. The complex, located east of Texas State Highway 6 between Interstate 10 and Memorial Drive, consists of One Westlake Park, Two Westlake Park, and Three Westlake Park. Hines was the developer of the...
  
  . The photo shows controllers in front of a bank of video screens with images of the Gulf. John Aravosis
  John Aravosis
  John Aravosis is an American Democratic political consultant, writer, gay activist and blogger. Aravosis, an attorney who lives in Washington, D.C., is the founder of AMERICAblog and a co-founder of StopDrLaura.com....
  
   of Americablog
  Americablog
  AMERICAblog is a liberal American blog founded by John Aravosis in April 2004, with several co-bloggers. The blog helped expose Jeff Gannon in 2005, and in 2006 helped make cell phone privacy an issue by obtaining Gen. Wesley Clark's call records. The blog focuses on U.S...
  
   reported that the screens were photoshopped because they overlapped a controller’s head. Aravosis also noted exif metadata
  Metadata
  The term metadata is an ambiguous term which is used for two fundamentally different concepts . Although the expression "data about data" is often used, it does not apply to both in the same way. Structural metadata, the design and specification of data structures, cannot be about data, because at...
  
   time stamp of 2001. Scott Dean, a spokesman for BP, released an original unaltered version of the photo and noted that three images were inserted into screens which were blank at the time. BP subsequently replaced the manipulated photo with the original with the three screens dark.
• July 20
• Leo Lindner, a drilling fluid specialist for contractor MI-Swaco (a joint venture of Smith International
  Smith International
  Smith International was a Fortune 500 company headquartered in the Greenspoint district and in unincorporated Harris County, Texas. Smith International ceased to exist as an independent company following the merger with Schlumberger. This company supplies products to gas and oil production and...
  
   and Schlumberger
  Schlumberger
  Schlumberger Limited is the world's largest oilfield services company. Schlumberger employs over 110,000 people of more than 140 nationalities working in approximately 80 countries...
  
  ), testifies that more than 400 barrels (63.6 m³) of a combination of two chemicals used for flushing drilling mud and commonly called "spacer fluid" was poured into the well in the hours before the explosion. The quantity was twice the usual amount and was done to take "advantage of an exemption in an environmental law that otherwise would have prohibited it (BP) from discharging the hazardous waste into the Gulf of Mexico." A fluid resembling it which was described as "snot" rained down on the rig after the explosion. Ronnie Penton, an attorney for one of the rig workers, said the fluid skewed the pressure test before BP approved a plan to use lighter sea water rather than heavy mud in the plan to temporarily seal the well.
• Florida House of Representatives
  Florida House of Representatives
  The Florida House of Representatives is the lower house of the Florida Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida. The House is composed of 120 members representing an equal number of districts, with each district having an average population of 156,677.The House convenes at...
  
   votes 67-44 to adjourn a special session thus not approving Constitutional ban on drilling backed by Charlie Crist
  Charlie Crist
  Charles Joseph "Charlie" Crist, Jr. is an American politician who was the 44th Governor of Florida. Prior to his election as governor, Crist previously served as Florida State Senator, Education Commissioner, and Attorney General...
  
  . State law already bans drilling.
• The Deepwater Horizon joint investigation board concluded the second day of the third session of hearings. Witnesses were; Ronald Sepulvado - BP, Well Site Leader, Ross Skidmore - BP, Subsea Well Supervisor, Lee Lambert - BP, Well Site Trainee. Testimony at investigative hearings in Kenner on Tuesday 20th showed that time after time in the days and weeks leading to its April 20 oil well blowout, BP eschewed safer options and chose more dangerous ways to handle its difficult Macondo oil well.
• The Deepwater Horizon joint investigation hearing for Wednesday, July 21, 2010 was cancelled as the four Transocean witnesses scheduled to testify declined to voluntarily appear at the hearings. The work area of these four was the Blow Out Preventer and they have supervisory functions.
• British Prime Minister David Cameron
  David Cameron
  David William Donald Cameron is the current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service and Leader of the Conservative Party. Cameron represents Witney as its Member of Parliament ....
  
   after meeting Obama at the White House tells reporters in the East Room
  East Room
  The East Room is the largest room in the White House, the home of the president of the United States. It is used for entertaining, press conferences, ceremonies, and occasionally for a large dinner...
  
   says, "On BP, which we discussed at some length, I completely understand the anger that exists right across America. The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is a catastrophe -- for the environment, for the fishing industry, for tourism. I've been absolutely clear about that. And like President Obama, I've also been clear that it is BP’s role to cap the leak, to clean up the mess, and to pay appropriate compensation...Equally, of course, BP is an important company to both the British and the American economies. Thousands of jobs on both sides of the Atlantic depend on it. So it’s in the interest of both our countries, as we agreed, that it remains a strong and stable company for the future."
• Cameron in response to the discussion about whether BP was involved in a deal in the Lockerbie boming case he says, "And let us not confuse the oil spill with the Libyan bomber. I’ve been absolutely clear about this right from the start, and in our meeting we had what we call a “violent agreement,” which is that releasing the Lockerbie bomber, a mass murderer of 270 people, the largest act of terrorism ever committed in the United Kingdom, was completely wrong...That wasn’t a decision taken by BP; it was a decision taken by the Scottish government. We have to accept that under the laws of my country, where power on certain issues is devolved to Scotland, this was a decision for the Scottish Executive, a decision that they took. Cameron also met with the four U.S. senators who sent a letter questioning the release. Senator Schumer says after the meeting, "The best news that we came out with was that the Prime minister said our request for an independent investigation -- not just a look at the documents -- was still on the table."

July 21–25

• July 21
• Exxon Mobil, Chevron
  Chevron Corporation
  Chevron Corporation is an American multinational energy corporation headquartered in San Ramon, California, United States and active in more than 180 countries. It is engaged in every aspect of the oil, gas, and geothermal energy industries, including exploration and production; refining,...
  
  , ConocoPhillips
  ConocoPhillips
  ConocoPhillips Company is an American multinational energy corporation with its headquarters located in the Energy Corridor district of Houston, Texas in the United States...
  
   and Royal Dutch Shell
  Royal Dutch Shell
  Royal Dutch Shell plc , commonly known as Shell, is a global oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the fifth-largest company in the world according to a composite measure by Forbes magazine and one of the six...
  
   commit $1 billion to create a rapid-response system to deal with deepwater oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico, seeking to restore public confidence in the industry .
• The Deepwater Horizon joint investigation at Kenner, La heard testimonies from Natalie Roshto - Transocean, Widow of Shane Roshto, John Guide - BP, Well Team Leader, providing information on well design, Shane Albers - BP, Subsea Engineer, providing information on procedures for seal assembly and lock-down rig.
• July 22
• Allen directs ships and personnel to leave the area as Tropical Storm Bonnie approaches. This includes suspending the relief wells and abandoning temporarily the static kill proposal on the new cap. Allen directs that the ROVs are to be the last to leave and first to return so the well can be monitored.
• NOAA reopens 26388 square miles (68,344.6 km²) of Gulf waters to commercial and recreational fishing -- one third of the total closed area. The area is 220 miles (354.1 km) from the wellhead, along the west Florida shelf.
• July 23
• The Deepwater Horizon joint investigation hearing at Kenner, Louisiana
  Kenner, Louisiana
  Kenner is a city in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, United States, and a suburb of New Orleans. The population was 66,702 at the 2010 census....
  
   hears testimonies from Mike Williams - Transocean, Chief Engineer Tech, providing information regarding the gas detection system and general alarm system. John R. Smith - Consultant, Subject Matter Expert, providing information on the operations for 24-hours prior to the Deepwater incident, Tyrone Benton - Oceaneering International
  Oceaneering International
  Oceaneering International Inc. is an applied technology company based in Houston, Texas, U.S.A. that provides engineered services and hardware to customers who operate in marine, space, and other environments...
  
  , ROV Technician, providing information on the leaks associated with BOP stack. Transcripts of hearings will be available on the Deepwater Investigation Web site approximately three weeks after the conclusion of each set of hearings. Documents discussed during the hearings will be available when the final report is released in January 2011. A fourth session is tentatively scheduled to take place August 23–27, 2010 in Houston, Texas
• The two relief wells detach and pull up risers which are in 40 to 60 feet (18.3 m) sections that are disassembled and put on deck of the, of the drilling rigs.
• USCGC Stratton (WMSL-752)
  USCGC Stratton (WMSL-752)
  USCGC Stratton is the name of the third Legend-class cutter of the United States Coast Guard. It is the first "white hull" cutter named after a woman since the 1980s . Stratton is named for Coast Guard Captain Dorothy C. Stratton...
  
   christened in Pascagoula, Mississippi
  Pascagoula, Mississippi
  Pascagoula is a city in Jackson County, Mississippi, United States. It is the principal city of the Pascagoula, Mississippi Metropolitan Statistical Area, as a part of the Gulfport–Biloxi–Pascagoula, Mississippi Combined Statistical Area. The population was 26,200 at the 2000 census...
  
   by Michelle Obama
  Michelle Obama
  Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama is the wife of the 44th and incumbent President of the United States, Barack Obama, and is the first African-American First Lady of the United States...
  
   who takes two whacks to crack the champagne bottle across the bow. She praises the Coast Guard response saying “They come from all over the country to help with the largest response of its kind in American history.”
• July 24
• Kenneth Feinberg
  Kenneth Feinberg
  Kenneth Feinberg is an American attorney, specializing in mediation and alternative dispute resolution. Feinberg was appointed Special Master of the U.S...
  
   says BP has not placed any money in $20 billion escrow account.
• BP says an internal investigation has cleared itself of gross negligence in the spill and will publish the findings in the next month.
• Allen says two vessels stayed at the scene during Bonnie which was weaker than expected has left.
• Allen says plans are proceeding for "static kill" through the new cap.
• July 25
• Bonnie has been downgraded to a disorganized area of low pressure
• Allen reports temperature in the cap is 40F, a sign of stability.

July 26–31

• July 26
• BP expert say the environmental impact from the spill might be small and marshes could recover by Spring 2011. .
• July 27
• Towing vessel Pere Ana C pushing the barge Captain Beauford collides with Louisiana-owned oil oil and natural gas rig C177 in the northern part of Barataria Bay
  Barataria Bay
  Barataria Bay, also Barrataria Bay, is a bay of the Gulf of Mexico that is located in southeastern Louisiana, in Jefferson Parish and Plaquemines Parish, United States....
  
   south of Lafitte, Louisiana
  Lafitte, Louisiana
  Lafitte is a census-designated place in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 1,576 at the 2000 census. It is part of the New Orleans–Metairie–Kenner Metropolitan Statistical Area....
  
  . 6000 feet (1,828.8 m) of boom are placed around rig while it is evaluated.
• Allen says static kill from the top is scheduled to begin August 2. .
• BP board formally announces that Bob Dudley
  Bob Dudley
  Robert "Bob" Dudley is the CEO of BP. He had served as President and Chief Executive of TNK-BP and on June 18, 2010, was assigned to be BP executive in charge of the Gulf Coast Restoration Organisation responding to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.-Early life:Dudley was born in Queens, New York,...
  
   will replace Tony Hayward as BP CEO effective October 1.
• BP takes pretax charge of $32 billion to cover damages, business claims and cleanup costs over the next several years from costs associated with the spill. The charge will save it $10 billion in taxes.
• July 28
• Ron LaBrec of the Coast Guard tells Center for Public Integrity
  Center for Public Integrity
  The Center for Public Integrity is a nonprofit organization dedicated to producing original, responsible investigative journalism on issues of public concern. The Center is non-partisan and non-advocacy and committed to transparent and comprehensive reporting both in the United States and around...
  
   that responders to the initial fire on the Deepwater Horizon used saltwater rather than retardant foam and this may have contributed to the rig's sinking. "We have expertise in fighting a fire on board our vessels, but since firefighting is not one of our missions, we do not train for rig fires and that has really been the responsibility of the rig owner and operator," LaBrec said.
• July 29
• Allen says the Q4000 has been retrofited to pump mud rather than collect oil. Allen says it would take a "catastrophic event" to go back to collecting oil at the site and that it would take a few days to bring Helix Producer I and Discoverer Enterprise back online to collect oil.
• July 30
• Jane Lubchenco
  Jane Lubchenco
  Dr. Jane Lubchenco is a Ukrainian-American environmental scientist and marine ecologist. On March 19, 2009, she was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the first woman to serve as the administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration .While performing duties as head of NOAA, Dr...
  
  , NOAA Administrator, says that as long as the cap remains closed studies show that "Southern Florida, the Florida Keys and the East Coast are not likely to experience any effects from the remaining oil on the surface of the Gulf as the oil continues to degrade and is hundreds of miles away from the loop current
  Loop Current
  A parent to the Florida Current, the Loop Current is a warm ocean current in the Gulf of Mexico that flows northward between Cuba and the Yucatán peninsula, moves north into the Gulf of Mexico, loops east and south before exiting to the east through the Florida Straits and joining the Gulf Stream.A...
  
  ." The study notes a large loop current eddy, called Eddy Franklin, has pinched off and detached from the loop current keeping the oil from hitting the Keys and Florida east coast.
• Allen says clearing out debris in the well could delay starting the topkill one day until August 3.
• Allen says plans are being reviewed for retrieving 11 million feet of oil booms.
• Well pressure is at 6,969 psi and temperature is 40F.
• Dudley says the clean up operation could begin to be scaled back. He also praises Hayward for having the decency to stand down "just when things are starting to go right".
• July 31
• Alan says a new government flow rate estimate is going to be issued.
• BP announces plans to sell offshore gas and oil fields in Vietnam and Pakistan.
• Wirtschaftswoche
  WirtschaftsWoche
  Wirtschaftswoche is a German weekly business news magazine. “Wirtschaft” means economy and “Woche” is week. For many years, the magazine was published on Thursday, but since March 2006, this has been changed to Monday. The editorial office is at Düsseldorf....
  
   reports BP is looking to sell its German gas station system Aral AG
  Aral AG
  Aral is a brand of automobile fuels and gas stations, present in Germany and Luxembourg, but formerly used in most countries of Western and Central Europe. The company behind the brand name, Aral AG , is owned by BP, but was established in 1898 as Westdeutsche Benzol-Verkaufs-Vereinigung GmbH...
  
   to either the French company Total S.A.
  Total S.A.
  Total S.A. is a French multinational oil company and one of the six "Supermajor" oil companies in the world.Its businesses cover the entire oil and gas chain, from crude oil and natural gas exploration and production to power generation, transportation, refining, petroleum product marketing, and...
  
   or the Russian company Rosneft
  Rosneft
  Rosneft is an integrated oil company majority owned by the Government of Russia. Rosneft is headquartered in Moscow’s Balchug district near the Kremlin, across the Moskva river...
  
  .