June 1–5

• June 1
• United States attorney general Eric Holder
  Eric Holder
  Eric Himpton Holder, Jr. is the 82nd and current Attorney General of the United States and the first African American to hold the position, serving under President Barack Obama....
  
   said his office was going to investigate possible criminal prosecutions. He specifically said they are investigating Clean Water Act
  Clean Water Act
  The Clean Water Act is the primary federal law in the United States governing water pollution. Commonly abbreviated as the CWA, the act established the goals of eliminating releases of high amounts of toxic substances into water, eliminating additional water pollution by 1985, and ensuring that...
  
  , Oil Pollution Act of 1990
  Oil Pollution Act of 1990
  The Oil Pollution Act was passed by the 101st United States Congress, and signed by President George H. W. Bush, to mitigate and prevent civil liability for future oil spills off the coast of the United States....
  
  , Migratory Bird Treaty Act, Endangered Species Act
  Endangered Species Act
  The Endangered Species Act of 1973 is one of the dozens of United States environmental laws passed in the 1970s. Signed into law by President Richard Nixon on December 28, 1973, it was designed to protect critically imperiled species from extinction as a "consequence of economic growth and...
  
  .
• Coast Guard Rear Adm. Mary Landry steps down as federal on-scene coordinator and is succeeded by her assistant 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...
  
  .
• 2010 Atlantic hurricane season
  2010 Atlantic hurricane season
  The 2010 Atlantic hurricane season was the third most active Atlantic hurricane season on record, tying with the 1887 Atlantic hurricane season, 1995 Atlantic hurricane season and the 2011 Atlantic hurricane season. It had the most number of named storms since the 2005 season and also ties with the...
  
   begins. Oil reaches on the beaches of Gulf Islands National Seashore
  Gulf Islands National Seashore
  Gulf Islands National Seashore offers recreation opportunities and preserves natural and historic resources along the Gulf of Mexico barrier islands of Florida and Mississippi. The protected regions include mainland areas and parts of 7 islands...
  
  .

• June 2
• Oil spotted 9 miles (14 km) from 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...
  
   beaches.
• Louisiana Governor 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....
  
   sends Obama letter opposing the six-month moratorium on new deepwater rigs.
• White House approves construction of five new sand berms in addition to the one approved the week before sending the $360 million bill to BP. The berms with sand from the Gulf floor will act as barrier island
  Barrier island
  Barrier islands, a coastal landform and a type of barrier system, are relatively narrow strips of sand that parallel the mainland coast. They usually occur in chains, consisting of anything from a few islands to more than a dozen...
  
  s.

• June 3
• BP begins airing ad, which features Tony Hayward
  Tony Hayward
  Anthony Bryan "Tony" Hayward is a British businessman, the former chief executive of oil and energy company BP. He replaced John Browne, Baron Browne of Madingley on 1 May 2007. His tenure ended on 1 October 2010 in large part due to the circumstances of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill...
  
   and has the tagline: "We will get this done. We will make this right." It was reportedly prepared by Washington, D.C.
  Washington, D.C.
  Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
  
  -based "Purple Strategies" of political consultants Democrat
  Democratic Party (United States)
  The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
  
   Steve McMahon and Republican
  Republican Party (United States)
  The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
  
   Alex Castellanos
  Alex Castellanos
  Alejandro "Alex" Castellanos is a U.S. Republican Party political media consultant who specializes in television advertising, and was a top media adviser to Bush Cheney '04 as well as Mitt Romney's presidential campaign....
  
  . It has an estimated budget of $50 million.
• Moody’s estimates that the insured loss on the spill will be $1.4 billion and $3.5 billion. Moody’s notes that BP’s insured loss would have been more if it were not insuring with its captive insurer Jupiter Insurance of Guernsey
  Guernsey
  Guernsey, officially the Bailiwick of Guernsey is a British Crown dependency in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy.The Bailiwick, as a governing entity, embraces not only all 10 parishes on the Island of Guernsey, but also the islands of Herm, Jethou, Burhou, and Lihou and their islet...
  
  . Jupiter has established loss reserves of $700 million. A.M. Best
  A.M. Best
  A.M. Best Company, Inc., headquartered in Oldwick, New Jersey, is a rating agency designated as a Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organization by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission....
  
   raises Jupiter’s outlook from negative to stable. Liabilities beyond the insured losses would have to be absorbed by various involved including its three owners (BP: 65%; Anadarko
  Anadarko Petroleum Corporation
  Anadarko Petroleum Corporation is one of the world’s largest independent oil and gas exploration and production companies, with approximately 2.3 billion barrels of oil equivalent of proved reserves and production of 206 million BOE as of December 31, 2008. Anadarko employs a worldwide...
  
  : 25%, Mitsui Oil Exploration Co. (MOECO) subsidiary of Mitsui
  Mitsui
  is one of the largest corporate conglomerates in Japan and one of the largest publicly traded companies in the world.-History:Founded by Mitsui Takatoshi , who was the fourth son of a shopkeeper in Matsusaka, in what is now today's Mie prefecture...
  
  : 10%).
• Transocean to be added to the Swiss Market Index
  Swiss Market Index
  The Swiss Market Index is Switzerland's blue-chip stock market index, which makes it the most important in the country. It is made up of twenty of the largest and most liquid SPI large- and mid-cap stocks...
  
   on June 21.
• BP releases 24 ROV live streaming video feeds (2 each from the Boa Deep C, Discoverer Enterprise
  Discoverer Enterprise
  Discoverer Enterprise is a fifth generation deepwater double hulled dynamically positioned drillship owned and operated by Transocean Offshore Deepwater Drilling Inc., capable of operating in moderate environments and water depths up to 3,049 m using an , 15,000 psi blowout preventer ,...
  
  , Ocean Intervention III, Q4000
  Q4000
  Q4000 is a unique multi-purpose oil field construction and intervention vessel commissioned in 1999 by Cal Dive International, and was built at the Keppel AmFELS shipyard in Brownsville, Texas. She was delivered in 2002 within the $180 million budget, and operates under the flag of the United...
  
  , Skandi Neptune
  Skandi Neptune
  Skandi Neptune is an Offshore Construction Vessel, now operated by Subsea 7.-History:The Skandi Neptune was built in 2001 as a cable layer...
  
  , Viking Poseidon

• June 4
• Tar balls arrive on beaches 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...
  
  . However Escambia County, Florida
  Escambia County, Florida
  Escambia County is the westernmost county in the U.S. state of Florida. The 2010 population was 297,619. The U.S. Census Bureau 2005 estimate for the county is 296,772. Its county seat is Pensacola.- History :...
  
   officials do not close the beaches.
• Mississippi has not closed its beaches (with the exception of Petit Bois Island and Horn Island
  Horn Island (Mississippi)
  Horn Island is a long, thin barrier island off the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, south of Ocean Springs. It is part of the Gulf Islands National Seashore. Horn Island is several miles long, but less than a mile wide at its widest point...
  
  ). Alabama warns visitors to stay out of the water on all of its ocean beaches.
• BP says it has paid $84 million reimbursing people for loss of income. BP closing stock price 37.16 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...
  
   say they have discovered an underwater plume 75 miles (120.7 km) northwest of the well.
• Ecosphere Technologies - a diversified water engineering and environmental services company - deployed a non-chemical water treatment system to assist in the remediation efforts.

• June 5
• Obama in his third trip to Louisiana since the disaster began visits Grand Isle, Louisiana
  Grand Isle, Louisiana
  Grand Isle is a town in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, located on a barrier island of the same name in the Gulf of Mexico. The island is at the mouth of Barataria Bay where it meets the gulf. As of the 2000 census, the town population was 1,541; during summers, the population sometimes increases to...
  
   for the second time in two weeks.
• Obama criticized BP for paying $50 million for television advertising and planning to pay $10.5 billion in quarterly dividends.
• Obama in his weekly radio address said 20,000 people are involved, he has authorized the deployment of 17,500 National Guard troops, that 1,900 boats were working on the spill and 4.3 million feet of boom
  Boom (containment)
  A containment boom is a "temporary floating barrier used to contain an oil spill. Booms are used to reduce the possibility of polluting shorelines and other resources, and to help make recovery easier. Booms help to concentrate oil in thicker surface layers so that skimmers, vacuums, or other...
  
   had been deployed.
• Thad W. Allen
  Thad W. Allen
  Thad William Allen is a retired United States Coast Guard admiral who served as the 23rd Commandant of the Coast Guard. Allen is best known for his widely-praised performance directing the federal response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in the Gulf Coast region from September 2005 to January 2006....
  
   says that a cap intended to capture oil and pump it to the surface is capturing about 1000 bbl (42,000 US gal; 158,987.3 l) a day.
• BP claims the cap captured 6077 bbl (255,234 US gal; 966,165.8 l) on its first day.
• The NOAA "No Fish Boundary" extends 78603 square miles (203,580.8 km²), or about 33% of the federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico covering an area roughly from Dry Tortugas, Florida in the south to Panama City, Florida
  Panama City, Florida
  -Personal income:The median income for a household in the city was $31,572, and the median income for a family was $40,890. Males had a median income of $30,401 versus $21,431 for females. The per capita income for the city was $17,830...
  
   in the northeast and Morgan City, Louisiana
  Morgan City, Louisiana
  Morgan City is a city in St. Martin and St. Mary parishes in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The population was 12,404 at the 2010 census....
  
   in the northwest.
• BP confirms it purchased keyword search terms such as "oil spill" from Google
  Google
  Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
  
  , Yahoo and Bing so that the sponsored link at the top of the page goes to a BP page. The tag on the sponsored link for "oil spill" says "Info about the Gulf of Mexico Spill Learn More about How BP is Helping."

June 6–10

• June 6
• Both the Coast Guard and BP say the cap is capturing 10000 bbl (420,000 US gal; 1,589,873 l) a day.
• The Daily Mail
  Daily Mail
  The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...
  
  runs an article "'I was lucky if I made $1,000 a month before the spill. Now BP pay me $1,200 a day': Fishermen make most of Gulf oil disaster" detailing how some locals including fisherman are profiting from the disaster noting that the Gulf fishing industry had been dwindling prior to the spill. The paper also reports that government records indicate there have been 491 dead birds, 227 dead turtles and 31 dead mammals, including dolphins.
• The New York Times reports in an article headlined “BP Pays Out Claims, but Satisfaction Is Not Included” that BP has 25 claims offices across the Gulf and has paid $46 million to 17,500 residents. BP said it is still processing another 17,500 claims. BP is paying fishing boat captains $5,000/month and deck hands $2,500.
• Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour
  Haley Barbour
  Haley Reeves Barbour is an American Republican politician currently serving as the 63rd Governor of Mississippi. He gained a national spotlight in August 2005 after Mississippi was hit by Hurricane Katrina. Barbour won re-election as Governor in 2007...
  
   tells "Fox News Sunday
  Fox News Sunday
  Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace is a public affairs program on the Fox network, hosted by Chris Wallace and airing on Sunday mornings. The show began on April 28, 1996, which predated the launch of Fox News Channel, and usually talks about items similar to Sunday morning talk shows...
  
  " that "we have had virtually no oil" wash up on the Mississippi coast.
• Hayward tells the British Broadcasting Corporation that he has not spoken directly to Obama since the spill started. Hayward says BP scientists have no “no evidence” of plumes.
• BP abandons plans to close three remaining vents on the containment cap noting that with one vent it is capturing as much oil as it can handle.

• June 7
• A report on June 6 that oiled birds had washed ashore in Texas is called erroneous by various government officials who note the slick is more than 100 miles (160.9 km) from Texas.
• Senator Bill Nelson
  Bill Nelson
  Clarence William "Bill" Nelson is the senior United States Senator from the state of Florida and a member of the Democratic Party. He is a former U.S. Representative and former Treasurer and Insurance Commissioner of Florida...
  
   tells MSNBC
  MSNBC
  MSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States available in the US, Germany , South Africa, the Middle East and Canada...
  
   he has seen reports that oil is now rising from the sea bed itself rather a broken pipe from above indicating the BP well bore and casing integrity has failed.
• White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs
  Robert Gibbs
  Robert Lane Gibbs was the 28th White House Press Secretary. Gibbs was the communications director for then-U.S. Senator Barack Obama and Obama's 2008 presidential campaign...
  
   said BP could be fined $4,300 per barrel. The White House says it favors raising the $75 million cap on liability damages for drilling rigs.
• Officials say the cap is working and is approaching handling the maximum of 15000 bbl (630,000 US gal; 2,384,809.4 l) per day that its gathering drillship the Discoverer Enterprise can handle. The Helix Energy Solutions Group Q4000 is to be configured to handle the excess. The Q4000 is onsite because it was used in the failed Top kill
  Top kill
  A top kill is a procedure used as a means of regaining control over an oil well that is experiencing an uncontrolled eruption of crude oil or natural gas . The process involves pumping heavyweight drilling mud into the well...
  
   procedure. Part of the reconfiguring involves replacing the current cap on the blowout preventer with a new larger cap.
• Members of the Flow Rate Technical Group, which is a government group appointed to standardize the flow estimates from the leak, say it is impossible to make calculations without high resolution video and the lack of any formal measurement of the flow. One of the members of the group Ira Leifer said that the current operation may have actually increased the leak multifold rather than 20 percent that BP had suggested noting that video feeds show the leak to be the same or worse than it was before. Leifer said the pipe could be spewing 100000 bbl (4,199,999.8 US gal; 15,898,729.5 l) a day–the worst case scenario
  Worst Case Scenario
  Worst Case Scenarios is a reality show aired on TBS in 2002 in the United States. The show was hosted by Mike Rowe and it featured demonstrations by stunt men on how to survive worst-case scenarios...
  
   BP had offered.
• Construction of a second permanent riser begins.

• June 8
• An Obama interview with Matt Lauer
  Matt Lauer
  Matthew Todd "Matt" Lauer . is an American television journalist best known as the host of NBC's The Today Show since 1997. He was previously a news anchor in New York and a local talk-show host in Boston, Philadelphia, Providence and Richmond...
  
   of the Today Show airs with Obama saying he wishes he could fire BP chief Hayward and "I don't sit around just talking to experts because this is a college seminar. We talk to these folks because they potentially have the best answers, so I know whose ass to kick."
• British commentators take Obama to task for taking such harsh rhetoric against Britain's biggest company that paid $14.4 billion in British taxes in 2008 (and $7.2 billion in 2009) with Toby Young
  Toby Young
  Toby Young, MA, FRSA is a British journalist and the author of How to Lose Friends and Alienate People, the tale of his stint in New York as a contributing editor at Vanity Fair magazine...
  
   noting "what's bad for BP is bad for Britain.”
• BP announce it will bring in a floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel that could then be offloaded with a shuttle tanker (Loch Rannoch which normally services the Schiehallion oilfield
  Schiehallion oilfield
  The Schiehallion oilfield is a deepwater offshore oilfield approximately west of the Shetland Islands in the North Atlantic Ocean. The Schiehallion and adjacent Loyal field were jointly developed by BP on behalf of the Schiehallion field partners; BP, Shell, Amerada Hess, Murphy Oil, Statoil and...
  
  ) as the processing capacity of collected oil by Discoverer Enterprise (18000 bbl (756,000 US gal; 2,861,771.3 l) of oil per day) is not sufficient. It also announced that it is setting up a new unit to oversee management of the oil spill and its aftermath, which will be headed by former TNK-BP
  TNK-BP
  TNK-BP is a major vertically integrated Russian oil company. It is Russia's third largest oil producer and among the ten largest private oil companies in the world. TNK-BP is Russia's third largest oil company in terms of reserves and crude oil production...
  
   chief executive Robert 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,...
  
  .
• BP releases the requested high resolution
  High-definition television
  High-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...
  
   images of the leak.
• NOAA Administrator 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...
  
   confirms that underwater oil plumes have been discovered at 3300 feet (1,005.8 m) about 40 miles (64.4 km) northeast of the wellhead. She said the plumes discovered by the University of South Florida
  University of South Florida
  The University of South Florida, also known as USF, is a member institution of the State University System of Florida, one of the state's three flagship universities for public research, and is located in Tampa, Florida, USA...
  
   and measured oil at less than 0.5 parts per million.
• BP announces it will donate net revenue from oil recovered from the spill to create a new wildlife fund to create, restore, improve and protect wildlife habitat along the coastline of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. This is over and what it is required under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990. Net revenue consists of the sale of oil minus royalties (18.75%) to the US Government. This only affects BP's 65% ownership share and not Anadarko's or Misui's portion.
• Five of the seven members of 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...
  
   sign a complaint saying they had recommended a 6-month moratorium on drilling in 1000 feet (304.8 m) of water and not 500 as was announced.
• Price of a barrel of oil (West Texas Intermediate
  West Texas Intermediate
  West Texas Intermediate , also known as Texas light sweet, is a grade of crude oil used as a benchmark in oil pricing. It is a light and sweet crude oil...
  
   - Cushing, Oklahoma
  Cushing, Oklahoma
  Cushing is a city in Payne County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 8,371 at the 2000 census.The city was established after the Land Run of 1891 by Billy Rae Little. It was named for Marshall Cushing, private secretary to U.S. Postmaster General John Wanamaker...
  
  ) $84.34.

• June 9
• BP's chief operating officer Doug Suttles
  Doug Suttles
  Doug Suttles is Chief Operating Officer of BP's Exploration and Production. After graduating from the University of Texas at Austin in 1983 with a BSc in Mechanical Engineering, he joined the global oil and gas industry....
  
   contradicts the underwater plume discussion noting, "It may be down to how you define what a plume is here…The oil that has been found is in very minute quantities."
• BP announces plans to have the well testing vessel Toisa Pisces
  Toisa Pisces
  Toisa Pisces is a Liberia-flagged well test and servicing vessel owned and operated by Sealion Shipping Ltd. She is classified by Det Norske Veritas as an oil production and storage unit....
  
  replace the Discoverer Enterprise for bringing oil to the surface and retrofitting the Q4000 to burn oil in a plan to increase the gathering capabilities from 18000 bbl (756,000 US gal; 2,861,771.3 l) a day. The Toisa Pisces will have capabilities of handling 20000 bbl (840,000 US gal; 3,179,745.9 l) a day while the Q4000 which currently has 5000 bbl (210,000 US gal; 794,936.5 l) a day capabilities is to be converted to 10000 bbl (420,000 US gal; 1,589,873 l) a day. The tanker Loch Rannoch
  Loch Rannoch
  Loch Rannoch is a large body of fresh water in Perth and Kinross, Scotland.The loch is over long in a west-east direction with an average width of about . The River Tummel begins at its eastern end. The Tay Forest Park lies along its southern shore...
  
  is to be brought in by June to begin offloading the oil.
• In complying with a request from BP to Twitter
  Twitter
  Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
  
   parody site BPGlobalPR which has 145,000 follower the site “We are not associated with Beyond Petroleum, the company that has been destroying the Gulf of Mexico for 51 days." The event is covered by the New York Times with the headline, "BP Account on Twitter? Just a Joke; K thx bye." The article also clarifies that BP's twitter account is bp_america. BP made the request one day after ABC News
  ABC News
  ABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of American broadcast television network ABC, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...
  
   correspondent Dan Harris interviewed the proprietor.
• The Guardian
  The Guardian
  The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
  
   reports that since April 20, 2010, 27 new offshore drilling projects have been approved by MMS. All but one project was granted similar exemptions from environmental review as BP. Two were submitted by the UK firm, and made the same claims about oil-rig safety and the implausibility of a spill damaging the environment. According to the Centre for Biological Diversity, even after the catastrophe, the Obama administration did not tighten its oversight of offshore drilling. "This oil spill has had absolutely no effect on MMS behaviour at all," said Kieran Suckling, the director of the centre. "It's still business as usual which means rubber stamping oil drilling permits with no environmental review."

• June 10
• Testimony before the United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
  United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
  The United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs has jurisdiction over matters related to the Department of Homeland Security and other homeland security concerns, as well as the functioning of the government itself, including the National Archives, budget and...
  
   indicates there is a not single command and control hierarchy in the cleanup and frequently BP is still taking the lead. Billy Nungesser
  Billy Nungesser
  William Harold "Billy" Nungesser is the President of Plaquemines Parish in suburban New Orleans, Louisiana. A Republican, Nungesser was re-elected in the 2010 general election, defeating two other candidates with more than 71% of the vote. His second term began on January 1, 2011...
  
  , president of Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana
  Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana
  Plaquemines Parish is the parish with the most combined land and water area in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Pointe à la Hache...
  
  , said “I still don’t know who’s in charge. Is it BP? Is it the Coast Guard? I have spent more time fighting the officials of BP and the Coast Guard than fighting the oil.”
• Time Magazine has article headlined "The Dirty Dozen: Who to Blame for the Oil Spill" (1. BP former chairman John Browne
  John Browne, Baron Browne of Madingley
  Edmund John Philip Browne, Baron Browne of Madingley, FRS FREng is President of the Royal Academy of Engineering and was group Chief Executive of BP until his resignation on 1 May 2007...
  
  , current BP president Tony Hayward, 3. MMS official in charge of Gulf drilling Chris Oynes
  Chris Oynes
  Chris Oynes served as U.S. Minerals Management Service associate director for offshore energy and minerals management before he retired in May 2010...
  
  , 4. BP COO Doug Suttles
  Doug Suttles
  Doug Suttles is Chief Operating Officer of BP's Exploration and Production. After graduating from the University of Texas at Austin in 1983 with a BSc in Mechanical Engineering, he joined the global oil and gas industry....
  
  , 5 and 6. Dick Cheney
  Dick Cheney
  Richard Bruce "Dick" Cheney served as the 46th Vice President of the United States , under George W. Bush....
  
  /George W. Bush
  George W. Bush
  George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
  
  , 7. The American Driver, 8. Obama, 9. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar
  Ken Salazar
  Kenneth Lee "Ken" Salazar is the current United States Secretary of the Interior, in the administration of President Barack Obama. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as a United States Senator from Colorado from 2005 to 2009. He and Mel Martinez were the first Hispanic U.S...
  
  , 10. MMS director S. Elizabeth Birnbaum
  S. Elizabeth Birnbaum
  Susan Elizabeth "Liz" Birnbaum served as Director of the Minerals Management Service in the United States between July 2009 and May 2010. Birnbaum was in charge of administering "programs that ensure the effective management of renewable energy and traditional energy and mineral resources on the...
  
  , 11. Transocean CEO Steven Newman, 12. Halliburton executive Tim Probert)
• Waterworld
  Waterworld
  Waterworld is a 1995 post-apocalyptic science fiction film. The film was directed by Kevin Reynolds and co-written by Peter Rader and David Twohy. It is based on Rader's original 1986 screenplay and stars Kevin Costner, who also produced it. It was distributed by Universal Pictures...
  
   actor Kevin Costner
  Kevin Costner
  Kevin Michael Costner is an American actor, singer, musician, producer, director, and businessman. He has been nominated for three BAFTA Awards, won two Academy Awards, and two Golden Globe Awards. Costner's roles include Lt. John J...
  
   says BP has issued a letter of intent to buy 32 centrifugal oil-water separators from his company Ocean Therapy Solutions
  Ocean Therapy Solutions
  Ocean Therapy Solutions is a company owned by actor Kevin Costner. He acquired the company from the United States government for US$24 million in 1995. This is equivalent to US$ in present-day terms. The company specializes in developing centrifugal oil-water separators...
  
  . The largest machine (112 inches high, 2-1/2 tons and cleans 210000 gallons (794.9 m³) a day of oily water).
• Senate Democrats send a letter to Hayward asking that a $20 billion escrow account be set up to deal with the spill.
• Nearly 200 lawsuits have been brought against BP.

June 11–15

• June 11
• Flow Rate Technical Group says the leak could be 20000 bbl (840,000 US gal; 3,179,745.9 l) of oil a day. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
  Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
  The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution is a private, nonprofit research and higher education facility dedicated to the study of all aspects of marine science and engineering and to the education of marine researchers. Established in 1930, it is the largest independent oceanographic research...
  
   estimates it is 50000 bbl (2,099,999.9 US gal; 7,949,364.8 l). The University of Texas at Austin
  University of Texas at Austin
  The University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...
  
   estimate is 22000 bbl (923,999.9 US gal; 3,497,720.5 l) a day. Using the 40,000 level reports indicate it would have spewed 90100000 gallons (2,145,238.2 bbl) since the accident. By contrast the Exxon Valdez
  Exxon Valdez
  Oriental Nicety, formerly Exxon Valdez, Exxon Mediterranean, SeaRiver Mediterranean, S/R Mediterranean, Mediterranean, and Dong Fang Ocean is an oil tanker that gained notoriety after running aground in Prince William Sound spilling hundreds of thousands of barrels of crude oil in Alaska...
  
  leaked 30000 bbl (1,259,999.9 US gal; 4,769,618.9 l) a day. The leak in 53 days is eight times larger.
• Tom Moorman of Ducks Unlimited
  Ducks Unlimited
  Ducks Unlimited is an international non-profit organization dedicated to the conservation of wetlands and associated upland habitats for waterfowl, other wildlife, and people. It currently has approximately 780,000 members, mostly in the United States and Canada.-Introduction:Ducks Unlimited was...
  
   says 13 million waterfowl will pass through the Gulf starting in August during the migration.
• BP says the relief wells are at 13978 feet (4,260.5 m). They need to get to 16000 to 18000 ft (4,876.8 to 5,486.4 ).
• The Wall Street Journal reports there are 1,728 species of plants and animals including 135 unique creatures and 74 endangered species in the spill area.
• The Fish and Wildlife Report says that of the 473 life birds collected since the spill began 40 have been released. The report also notes that of the 658 dead birds collected only 117 were “visibly oiled.”
• BP says it may defer its dividend
  Dividend
  Dividends are payments made by a corporation to its shareholder members. It is the portion of corporate profits paid out to stockholders. When a corporation earns a profit or surplus, that money can be put to two uses: it can either be re-invested in the business , or it can be distributed to...
  
   putting into escrow
  Escrow
  An escrow is:* an arrangement made under contractual provisions between transacting parties, whereby an independent trusted third party receives and disburses money and/or documents for the transacting parties, with the timing of such disbursement by the third party dependent on the fulfillment of...
  
   pending an evaluation of its liabilities.
• BP closes week at $33.97. During the week its stock dropped 16% in one day on June 9 to 29.03 – a 14-year low. Since the spill BP has lost $84 billion in market cap. A JPMorgan analyst anticipates the cost to BP in fines, clean up costs and litigation will be $29 billion.
• Thad Allen invites BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg
  Carl-Henric Svanberg
  Carl-Henric Svanberg, born on May 29 1952 in Porjus, Sweden, is a businessman and current Chairman of BP.-Life and career:Svanberg holds a Master's degree in Applied Physics from the Linköping Institute of Technology and a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration from Uppsala University...
  
   to White House meeting with Obama on June 16.
• BP officials say they will expedite payments. Currently BP waits until company books are closed for each month before paying claims.
• Unified Command reports "Low Risk in Near-Term to Florida Peninsula and Keys".

• June 12
• In the light of increase flow estimates Coast Guard rear admiral 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...
  
   sends a letter to BP telling them "BP must identify in the next 48 hours additional leak containment capacity that could be operationalised and expedited."
• Obama tells Britain 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 ....
  
   the oil spill has "nothing to do with national identity."
• British deputy prime minister Nick Clegg
  Nick Clegg
  Nicholas William Peter "Nick" Clegg is a British Liberal Democrat politician who is currently the Deputy Prime Minister, Lord President of the Council and Minister for Constitutional and Political Reform in the coalition government of which David Cameron is the Prime Minister...
  
   in responding to a question about Obama's rhetoric says "I am not going to start intervening in a debate which clearly risks descending into megaphone diplomacy."
• "Worldwide BP Protest Day" has demonstrations in 50 cities.
• Price of frozen shrimp reported to have jumped 30 percent since spill.
• Pools of crude oil as much as 4 inches deep hit Alabama beaches which previously had only been getting tar balls. State closes 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...
  
   to fishing. Only tarballs are washing up in Florida.
• Doug Suttles in letter dated June 9 but publizied June 12 outlines new plans to increase capacity including addition of the Discoverer Clear Leader
  Discoverer Clear Leader
  Discoverer Clear Leader is a double hulled dynamically positioned drillship , capable of operating in moderate environments and water depths up to 12,000 feet using an , 15,000 psi blowout preventer , and a outside diameter marine riser...
  
   which will process 5-10,000 barrels of oil a day using the Kill Line on the blow out preventer through the manifold
  Manifold
  In mathematics , a manifold is a topological space that on a small enough scale resembles the Euclidean space of a specific dimension, called the dimension of the manifold....
  
   used in the Top Kill operation. Oil will be stored and offloaded and gas will be flared. The plan will provide capacity of handling 38,000 barrels/day by mid-July. In addition, to the previously announced permanent riser to the Toisa Pisces and Loch Rannoch, BP announces plan for a second permanent riser to the Helix Producer with oil offloaded to a yet to be determined tanker. This will increase capacity to 40 to 50,000 barrels a day by mid-July. In addition the Discoverer Enterprise will remain providing 15,000-18,000 in reserve capacity.
• Watson responds in a letter dated June 11 but made public June 12 that the plan does not deal with increased flow estimates and does not offer enough redundancies.
• 5,000 pound tank from the Deepwater Horizon washes ashore in Panama City Beach, Florida
  Panama City Beach, Florida
  Panama City Beach is a city in Bay County, Florida, United States, on the Gulf of Mexico coast. The city is often referred to under the umbrella term of "Panama City", despite being a distinct municipality from the older and larger inland Panama City to the east, making Panama City and Panama City...
  
  .

• June 13
• BP begins installation of sensors into the containment cap to measure the oil flow.
• Obama is scheduling to address the nation on June 15 following his fourth trip to the Gulf since the spill and the day before he will meet with BP executives.

• June 14
• Henry Waxman
  Henry Waxman
  Henry Arnold Waxman is the U.S. Representative for , serving in Congress since 1975. He is a member of the Democratic Party. He is considered to be one of the most influential liberal members of Congress...
  
   sends Hayward a letter outlining BP shoddy practices in April leading up to the blowout.
• Suttles in a letter to Watson says a new Floating Production Storage and Offloading
  Floating Production Storage and Offloading
  A floating production, storage and offloading unit is a floating vessel used by the offshore industry for the processing of hydrocarbons and for storage of oil. A FPSO vessel is designed to receive hydrocarbons produced from nearby platforms or subsea template, process them, and store oil until it...
  
   from South America will be brought to the site in about 4 weeks. It can handle 25,000 barrels and will provide backup for the Toisa Pisces and the Helix Producer. Two Lightering
  Lightering
  Lightering is the process of transferring cargo between vessels of different sizes, usually between a barge and a bulker or oil tanker. Lightering is undertaken to reduce a vessel's draft in order to enter port facilities which cannot accept very large ocean-going vessels...
  
   oil tankers will come from Europe (bring to three the total number). 3800 feet (1,158.2 m) of 6 inch coflexip had been acquired and will provide redunandacy in the event of a subsea hose failure or loss. The changes will increase capacity to 60,000 to 80,000 barrels a day by mid July. Suttles however warns "Several hundred people are working in a confined space with live hydrocarbons on up to four vessels...This is significantly beyond both BP and industry practice" and adds that with so many vessels working in a relatively small area there's a risk of a "major surface accident."
• Obama in his fourth visit to the Gulf visits Gulfport, Mississippi
  Gulfport, Mississippi
  Gulfport is the second largest city in Mississippi after the state capital Jackson. It is the larger of the two principal cities of the Gulfport-Biloxi, Mississippi Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is included in the Gulfport-Biloxi-Pascagoula, Mississippi Combined Statistical Area. As of the...
  
   where he ate snow cones with Haley Barbour on an oil free beach and said "There's still a lot of opportunity for visitors to come down here -- a lot of beaches that are not yet affected or will not be affected,"
• Obama visits Theodore, Alabama
  Theodore, Alabama
  Theodore is a census-designated place in Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population was 6,811 at the 2000 census. It is a part of the Mobile metropolitan statistical area...
  
   where he says, "“I am confident that we're going to be able to leave the Gulf Coast in better shape than it was before." NOAA and University of New Hampshire
  University of New Hampshire
  The University of New Hampshire is a public university in the University System of New Hampshire , United States. The main campus is in Durham, New Hampshire. An additional campus is located in Manchester. With over 15,000 students, UNH is the largest university in New Hampshire. The university is...
  
   Coastal Response Research Center announces a mapping site geoplatform.gov/gulfresponse/
• 5,000 pound tank from the Deepwater Horizon washes ashore in Miramar Beach, Florida
  Miramar Beach, Florida
  Miramar Beach is a census-designated place in Walton County, Florida, United States. The population was 2,435 at the 2000 census. Although many other localities in Florida have appended "Beach" to their names to distinguish themselves from an adjacent inland or cross-bay municipality – such as...
  
  
• Keith P. Ellison
  Keith P. Ellison
  Keith P. Ellison is a judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. His chambers are in Houston, Texas....
  
   rules that liability cases filed against Transocean can forward under the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act and that Limitation of Liability Act of 1851 does not apply (Transocean had sought to cap its liability at $27 million for the value of its contracts on the Deepwater Enterprise).

• June 15
• Competing oil executives testifying before the House Energy and Commerce Committee imply in their testimony that they have stronger safeguards than BP in drilling. Rex W. Tillerson, chairman of Exxon Mobil, testifies that if companies follow proper well design, drilling, maintenance and training procedures accidents like Deepwater Horizon explosion on April 20 "should not occur". John S. Watson
  John S. Watson
  John S. Watson was an African-American Democratic Party politician who served six terms in the New Jersey General Assembly, where he represented the 15th Legislative District....
  
  , chief executive of Chevron, testifies that every Chevron employee and contractor has the authority to stop work immediately if they see anything unsafe. Other executives testifying are Shell and Conoco Phillips.
• Edward J. Markey takes the oil companies to task, noting that their submitted plans for dealing with disasters in the Gulf were nearly identical to BP's including a plan to protect the walrus
  Walrus
  The walrus is a large flippered marine mammal with a discontinuous circumpolar distribution in the Arctic Ocean and sub-Arctic seas of the Northern Hemisphere. The walrus is the only living species in the Odobenidae family and Odobenus genus. It is subdivided into three subspecies: the Atlantic...
  
   which does not occur in the Gulf.
• Energy Committee Representative Joseph Cao
  Joseph Cao
  Anh "Joseph" Quang Cao is the former U.S. Representative for , serving from 2009 until 2011. He is a member of the Republican Party. In April 2011, he announced he will be a candidate for Attorney General of Louisiana in 2011, however in September 2011 he pulled out of the race.He was the first...
  
   from Louisiana tells the executives "Well, in the Asian culture, we do things differently. During the samurai
  Samurai
  is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character 侍 was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany a person in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau...
  
   days, we'd just give you the knife and ask you to commit hara-kiri…My constituents are still debating on what they want me to ask you to do."
• Fitch
  Fitch Ratings
  The Fitch Group is a majority-owned subsidiary of FIMALAC, headquartered in Paris. Fitch Ratings, Fitch Solutions and Algorithmics, are part of the Fitch Group....
  
   downgrades BP Bond credit rating
  Bond credit rating
  In investment, the bond credit rating assesses the credit worthiness of a corporation's or government debt issues. It is analogous to credit ratings for individuals.-Table:...
  
   six notches to BBB status.
• Lightning
  Lightning
  Lightning is an atmospheric electrostatic discharge accompanied by thunder, which typically occurs during thunderstorms, and sometimes during volcanic eruptions or dust storms...
  
   hits the derrick
  Derrick
  A derrick is a lifting device composed of one tower, or guyed mast such as a pole which is hinged freely at the bottom. It is controlled by lines powered by some means such as man-hauling or motors, so that the pole can move in all four directions. A line runs up it and over its top with a hook on...
  
   on the Discoverer Enterprise creating a small fire which is extinguished. The drillship temporarily suspends its collection activities.
• Flow Rate Technical Group places the flow at 35,000 to 60,000 barrels per day.
• Obama visits 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...
  
   where bathers are photographed on the beach in the background during the tour. He gives a speech at the Naval Air Station Pensacola
  Naval Air Station Pensacola
  Naval Air Station Pensacola or NAS Pensacola , "The Cradle of Naval Aviation", is a United States Navy base located next to Warrington, Florida, a community southwest of the Pensacola city limits...
  
  . Obama in the first speech from the Oval Office
  Oval Office
  The Oval Office, located in the West Wing of the White House, is the official office of the President of the United States.The room features three large south-facing windows behind the president's desk, and a fireplace at the north end...
  
   of his Presidency gives attorney 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...
  
   power to clean up the MMS.
• Obama appoints Ray Mabus
  Ray Mabus
  Raymond Edwin "Ray" Mabus, Jr. is the 75th United States Secretary of the Navy. Mabus served as the 60th Governor of the U.S...
  
   to develop a long-term restoration plan for the Gulf Coast.
• Unified Command announces plans to move its 350 staff into 38224 square feet (3,551.1 m²) of space to downtown New Orleans, Louisiana
  New Orleans, Louisiana
  New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
  
   near the Superdome
  Louisiana Superdome
  The Mercedes-Benz Superdome, previously known as the Louisiana Superdome and colloquially known as the Superdome, is a sports and exhibition arena located in the Central Business District of New Orleans, Louisiana, USA...
  
   at 1250 Poydras Plaza
  1250 Poydras Plaza
  1250 Poydras Plaza , located at 1250 Poydras Street in the Central Business District of New Orleans, Louisiana, is a 24-story, -tall skyscraper....
  
   (the Eni
  Eni
  Eni S.p.A. is an Italian multinational oil and gas company, present in 70 countries, and currently Italy's largest industrial company with a market capitalization of 87.7 billion euros , as of July 24, 2008...
  
   Building).
• NOAA and Coast Guard report seizing 19,000 pounds of shrimp caught in a closed fishing area 13 miles (20.9 km) south of Belle Pass, Louisiana.
• Obama signs amendment authorizing the Coast Guard to obtain multiple advances (up to $100 million each), with the total amount of all advances not to exceed the incident cap under current law ($1 billion), from the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund. The Fund is principally funded by a 5-cent-per-barrel tax, collected from the oil industry on petroleum produced in or imported to the United States.
• Transocean in its monthly fleet report notes that some of its customers are seeking to declare force majeure
  Force majeure
  Force majeure or vis major "superior force", also known as cas fortuit or casus fortuitus "chance occurrence, unavoidable accident", is a common clause in contracts that essentially frees both parties from liability or obligation when an extraordinary event or circumstance beyond the control of...
  
   to nulify their contracts as a result of the moratorium noting that the rigs could be moved or used for other non-drilling activities. In particular it says it has rejected Anadarko's claims.
• Anadarko CEO James T. Hackett declines to testify before Senate Committee citing scheduling conflicts. Huffington Post reports he is scheduled in the Houston on to receive "Oil and Gas Investor's Executive of the Year" award. Yoshiyuki Kagawa, president and CEO of Mitsui Oil Exploration Co.
  Mitsui Oil Exploration Co.
  is an oil exploration subsidiary of Mitsui & Co. that specializes in natural gas. It has its headquarters in the Hibiya Central Building in Nishi-Shinbashi, Minato, Tokyo.It was one of 17 Mitsui companies that were spun off on July 19, 1969....
  
   also declines because of scheduling issues.

June 16–20

• June 16
• Obama meets with Svanberg, Hayward, McKay. BP agrees to fund a $20 billion escrow account administered by 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...
  
  .
• Svanberg said no BP quarterly dividends would be paid anytime in 2010.
• BP will pay $5 billion a year into the fund. Reconfigured Q4000 is put back in service collecting oil.
• Transocean's Newman testifying before the United States Senate Homeland Security Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations that the company is not legally responsible for "fluids emanating from the well."
• Good weather has resulted in several controlled burns. Since the spill 210 burns have been conducted to remove a total of 5200000 gallons (19,684.1 m³).
• NOAA ship Pisces reports the finding of a dead sperm whale
  Sperm Whale
  The sperm whale, Physeter macrocephalus, is a marine mammal species, order Cetacea, a toothed whale having the largest brain of any animal. The name comes from the milky-white waxy substance, spermaceti, found in the animal's head. The sperm whale is the only living member of genus Physeter...
  
   77 miles (123.9 km) due south of the spill. Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company
  Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company
  Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company is an American company providing construction services in dredging and land reclamation, currently the largest such provider in the United States. GLD&D operates primarily in the United States but conducts one-quarter of its business overseas...
  
   under the Shaw Environmental and Infrastructure Group
  The Shaw Group
  The Shaw Group is a Fortune 500 corporation headquartered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. As of February 27, 2011, the company employed approximately 28,000 people all over the world with 7 billion dollar revenue in 2010...
  
   begin constructing sand berms off the Louisiana
  Louisiana
  Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
  
   coast to limit the amount of approaching oil in the Gulf of Mexico.
• Louisiana State Senate
  Louisiana State Senate
  The Louisiana State Senate is the upper house of the state legislature of Louisiana. All Senators serve four year terms and are assigned multiple committees to work on. The Republicans control the State Senate following a Special Election Victory in District 26 by Jonathan W. Perry...
  
   unanimously approves Senate Resolution 145 to declare June 20 "Statewide Day of Prayer" where "citizens are urged to pray for a solution to this crisis." Robert Adley who sponsored the bill says in a press release, "Thus far the efforts made by mortals to try to solve the crisis have been to no avail. It is clearly time for a miracle for us"

• June 17
• Hayward addresses the United States House Energy Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
  United States House Energy Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
  The U.S. House Energy Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations is a subcommittee within the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.-Jurisdiction:...
  
  . In Hayward's prepared remarks he says, "I want to speak directly to the people who live and work in the Gulf region: I know that this incident has had a profound impact on your lives and caused great turmoil, and I deeply regret that."
• Texas Republican Joe Barton
  Joe Barton
  Joseph Linus "Joe" Barton is a Republican politician, representing in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1985, and a member of the Tea Party Caucus...
  
   tells Hayward "I'm ashamed of what happened in the White House yesterday…a tragedy of the first proportion, that a private corporation can be subjected to what I would characterize as a shakedown
  Extortion
  Extortion is a criminal offence which occurs when a person unlawfully obtains either money, property or services from a person, entity, or institution, through coercion. Refraining from doing harm is sometimes euphemistically called protection. Extortion is commonly practiced by organized crime...
  
  , a $20 billion shakedown."
• Vandals slice up a 600 feet (182.9 m) chunk oil boom at Garcon Point in Pensacola.
• The Coast Guard releases a public service announcement against vandalism of the booms. Coast Guard approves return of vacuum barges which had been temporarily removed so the Coast Guard could complete inspections and certifications. The barges had been deployed to Barataria Bay and around Bay Jimmy and East Grand Terre.
• Anadarko Petroleum says it will make a $45 million dividend payment to shareholders in the next week.
• Anadarko says it is reviewing a bill (for undisclosed amount) it received from BP.
• Allen says the relief well Development Driller III is about three to four weeks away to from hitting the actual well bore to begin the "bottom kill" tactic of pumping drilling mud into the well. Development Driller III is at 9967 feet (3,037.9 m) below the sea floor. The backup relief well Driller II is at 4500 feet (1,371.6 m). Asked if the relief wells would stop the flow in mid-July, Allen said that the last portion of the process is very complex and that it could take longer, citing the target date of mid-August.
• Allen says they do not the extent of the damage to the well bore or if the well bore has been compromised adding "that's the reason we didn't go, didn't go to excessive pressures on the top kill and decided that we'd deal with containment and then go for the final relief well." Florida Incident Command Center moves from St. Petersburg, Florida
  St. Petersburg, Florida
  St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. It is known as a vacation destination for both American and foreign tourists. As of 2008, the population estimate by the U.S. Census Bureau is 245,314, making St...
  
   to 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...
  
  . Discoverer Enterprise begins transferring oil to the tanker Overseas Cascade which will deliver it to Mobile, Alabama
  Mobile, Alabama
  Mobile is the third most populous city in the Southern US state of Alabama and is the county seat of Mobile County. It is located on the Mobile River and the central Gulf Coast of the United States. The population within the city limits was 195,111 during the 2010 census. It is the largest...
  
  .

• June 18
• Svanberg tells Sky News
  Sky News
  Sky News is a 24-hour British and international satellite television news broadcaster with an emphasis on UK and international news stories.The service places emphasis on rolling news, including the latest breaking news. Sky News also hosts localised versions of the channel in Australia and in New...
  
   that BP Managing Director and Mississippi native Robert Dudley will replace Hayward as BP manager of the spill.
• Shipping company Dockwise
  Dockwise
  -History:Dockwise was formed in September 1993 by the merger of two complementary companies, Wijsmuller Transport and Dock Express Shipping , becoming the world's largest seagoing heavy transport shipping company. The combined company operated from a new headquarters in Meer , Belgium...
  
   says it will send Mighty Servant 3 to collect oil-saturated solid material and oily water.
• Moody's
  Moody's
  Moody's Corporation is the holding company for Moody's Analytics and Moody's Investors Service, a credit rating agency which performs international financial research and analysis on commercial and government entities. The company also ranks the credit-worthiness of borrowers using a standardized...
  
   lowers Anadarko ratings to junk bond status. Andarko's CEO Jim Hackett releases a statement saying that "The mounting evidence clearly demonstrates that this tragedy was preventable and the direct result of BP's reckless decisions and actions."

• June 19
• BP issues clarifications on whether Hayward or Dudley is in charge of the spill. BP spokesman Robert Wine says "Until the leak is capped, Tony Hayward is still very much in charge in the response of this crisis."
• Hayward attends the Round the Island Race
  Round the Island Race
  The Round the Island Race is a yacht race around the Isle of Wight, organized by the Island Sailing Club based in Cowes. It is the fourth largest sporting event in the United Kingdom and is one of the most popular fixtures on the Solent racing calendar attracting competitors from Europe and the...
  
   where his yacht "Bob" finishes fourth place. The appearance is portrayed in the press and by public officials as a gaffe. Fox News headlines its article "BP Chief Yachts While Gulf Oil Spill Burns". The Christian Science Monitor headlines its article, "A yachting trip? The 10 worst BP gaffes in Gulf oil spill." The Guardian headline is "BP chief's weekend sailing trip stokes anger at oil company". Rahm Emanuel
  Rahm Emanuel
  Rahm Israel Emanuel is an American politician and the 55th and current Mayor of Chicago. He was formerly White House Chief of Staff to President Barack Obama...
  
   says "Well, to quote Tony Hayward, he has got his life back...and I think we can all conclude that Tony Hayward is not going to have a second career in PR consulting. This has just been part of a long line of PR gaffes and mistakes."

• June 20
• Sunday Times reports BP is raising $50 billion to cover the spill costs ($10 billion from a bond sale, $20 billion from banks and $20 billion from asset sales over two years).
• Markey releases an internal BP undated document that states "If BOP
  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...
  
   and wellhead
  Wellhead
  A wellhead is a general term used to describe the component at the surface of an oil or gas well that provides the structural and pressure-containing interface for the drilling and production equipment....
  
   are removed and if we have incorrectly modeled the restrictions – the rate could be as high as ~ 100,000 barrels per day up the casing or 55,000 barrels per day up the annulus
  Annulus (oil well)
  The annulus of an oil well refers to any void between any piping, tubing or casing and the piping, tubing, or casing immediately surrounding it. It is named after the corresponding geometric concept...
  
   (low probability worst cases)".
• BP spokesman Wine emphasized that the document which was presented to investigators in May established the worst case scenario based on the removal of the BOP. "The blowout preventer is being kept in place and is not being moved until we can guarantee to the authorities and the public at large that the well is being killed and poses no threat," Wine says.

June 21–25

• June 21
• Hayward, citing his busy schedule, cancels a keynote speech on "Key Roles and Responsibilities of International Oil Companies in an Age of Economic Uncertainty" that was to be delivered to the "World National Oil Companies Congress."
• BP Spokesman Sheila Williams issues another clarification on who's in charge of the spill at BP. "The transition of day-to-day handling by BP Managing Director Robert Dudley of the oil spill cleanup has started," she says.
• BBC
  BBC
  The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
  
   airs documentary in which Tyrone Benton, a robot operator, says the robot cameras on the Deepwater Horizon spotted a leak in early April two weeks before the accident in a control pod on the BOP. The leaking BOP pod was turned off and another one turned on. The BOP was not taken out of service after the report. BP spokesman Williams said the matter was being investigated saying, "Transocean was responsible for both the operation and maintenance of the BOP on the drilling rig." New policy says collection will be suspended when lightening is within 5 miles (8 km) of the Discoverer Enterprise.

• June 22
• Martin Leach-Cross Feldman
  Martin Leach-Cross Feldman
  Martin Leach-Cross Feldman is a United States federal judge on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. He was nominated by President Ronald Reagan on September 9, 1983, to a seat vacated by Jack M. Gordon. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on October 4,...
  
   of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana
  United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana
  The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana is a federal trial court based in New Orleans. Like all U.S...
  
   issues restraining order
  Restraining order
  A restraining order or order of protection is a form of legal injunction that requires a party to do, or to refrain from doing, certain acts. A party that refuses to comply with an order faces criminal or civil penalties and may have to pay damages or accept sanctions...
  
   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...
  
   against the 6-month moratorium on drilling in the Gulf waters of 500 feet (152.4 m) or more. Feldman in his ruling says Interior Department failed to provide adequate reasoning and that the moratorium seems to assume that because one rig failed, all companies and rigs doing deepwater drilling pose an imminent danger. The White House says it will appeal. The decision noted about among other things that the moratorium was factually misleading because the moratorium stated it was based on recommendations “peer-reviewed by seven experts” although five of the National Academy experts had “publicly stated that they do not agree with the six month blanket moratorium.” Salazar is reported to preparing a new moratorium.
• 25,836 barrels are recovered in the last 24 hours - the most since the spill. A 40 feet (12.2 m) section of the riser that was cut for the current cap is brought to the surface for forensic purposes.
• Allen says that if the relief wells fail oil and natural gas could be piped from the well to facilities nearby where they would be processed and pumped back into a reservoir.
• BP says net revenue it receives from the sale of oil recovered from the MC252 spill will go to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation
  National Fish and Wildlife Foundation
  The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation protects, sustains and restores the wildlife, plants and habitats of the United States. Established by Congress in 1984, the Foundation directs public conservation dollars to critical environmental needs and matches those investments with private...
  
  .
• Feinberg tells Neil Cavutto of Fox," If BP ever were - - was unable to pay valid claims because of bankruptcy, that would be a disaster for the — for BP, it would be a disaster for the people in the Gulf, it would be a disaster for the economy of the Gulf. I think that is not an option...And I must say, to those who criticize this fund as somehow driving BP toward the brink, I would only add that this fund is — is, in one sense, a very important lifesaver for BP. Claims should not into this facility. The alternative is to litigate against BP in court for a decade or more. You don’t know if you’re going to prevail. You’ve got to give your lawyer 40 or 40 percent contingency."
• Texas A&M University
  Texas A&M University
  Texas A&M University is a coeducational public research university located in College Station, Texas . It is the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System. The sixth-largest university in the United States, A&M's enrollment for Fall 2011 was over 50,000 for the first time in school...
  
   oceanography professor John Kessler reports that methane within 5 miles (8 km) of the spill is 100,000 times higher than normal. "We saw them approach a million times above background concentrations" in some areas, hea says

• June 23
• New York Daily News
  New York Daily News
  The Daily News of New York City is the fourth most widely circulated daily newspaper in the United States with a daily circulation of 605,677, as of November 1, 2011....
  
  says that Judge Feldman who overturned the moratorium reported owning $15,000 in shares of Transocean Ltd. stock in 2008 and also owned stock in Halliburton.
• BP removes the containment cap on the blowout preventer after an undersea robot collides with it. The operation halts oil flow to the Discoverer Enterprise. Oil is still being sent to the Q4000. Allen says if there are no gas hydrates in the pipe connecting to it, it will quickly be installed. If there are hydrates “the will take a considerable amount longer” because the pipe connecting to the Horizon will have to be reinserted. The cap was removed at approximately 8:45 AM CDT and was reattached at 6:30 PM CDT.
• House Republican Leader John Boehner
  John Boehner
  John Andrew Boehner is the 61st and current Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. A member of the Republican Party, he is the U.S. Representative from , serving since 1991...
  
   says Joe Barton will keep his job as ranking Republican on the Energy Committee following multiple Barton apologies for his comments about BP being shaken down
• WTVT
  WTVT
  WTVT, channel 13, is a television station in Tampa, Florida. It is an owned and operated station of the Fox Broadcasting Company, a subsidiary of the News Corporation...
  
   reports that boat captain Mike Ellis video on Youtube
  YouTube
  YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
  
   says turtles including the endangered species
  Endangered species
  An endangered species is a population of organisms which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in numbers, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters...
  
   Kemps Ridley turtles are being burned alive when they are caught in controlled burns in which booms ring the burn and the turtles can not get out.
• BP officials names Dudley President and Chief Executive Officer of BP’s newly created Gulf Coast Restoration Organization which will “will manage all aspects of the response to the Deepwater Horizon incident” Dudley will report to Hayward.
• 62 rehabilitated brown pelican
  Brown Pelican
  The Brown Pelican is the smallest of the eight species of pelican, although it is a large bird in nearly every other regard. It is in length, weighs from and has a wingspan from .-Range and habits:...
  
  s and one rehabilitated northern gannet
  Gannet
  Gannets are seabirds comprising the genus Morus, in the family Sulidae, closely related to the boobies.The gannets are large black and white birds with yellow heads. They have long pointed wings and long bills. Northern gannets are the largest seabirds in the North Atlantic, with a wingspan of up...
  
   are released at the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge
  Aransas National Wildlife Refuge
  Aransas National Wildlife Refuge is a 114,657 acre protected area situated on the southwest side of San Antonio Bay along the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Texas. It is located in parts of Aransas, Refugio, and Calhoun counties. The Aransas National Wildlife Refuge was established by Executive...
  
  .
• NOAA opens 8000 square miles (20,719.9 km²) of the Gulf to fishing 78597 square miles (203,565.3 km²) —approximately 32.5 percent of federal areas in the Gulf are still closed.
• Allen "Rookie" Kruse of Orange Beach, Alabama
  Orange Beach, Alabama
  Orange Beach is a city in Baldwin County, Alabama, United States. At the 2000 census the population was 3,784. It is part of the Daphne–Fairhope–Foley Micropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:...
  
  , a captain of a vessel of opportunity charter boat being used in the clean up is found dead in a suicide on one of his boats. Reports indicate “witnesses told investigators that Kruse was upset by the loss of business caused by fishing grounds being closed due to the spill and with the public perceptions of the spill.”
• Fast Company reports BP has rejected 908 from the Innocentive
  InnoCentive
  InnoCentive is an "open innovation" company that takes research and development problems in a broad range of domains such as engineering, computer science, math, chemistry, life sciences, physical sciences and business and frames them as "challenge problems" for anyone to solve them...
  
   website asking people to submit their solutions by June 30.
• House Judiciary Committee approves H.R. 5503, Securing Protections for the Injured from Limitations on Liability Act (SPILL Act) sponsored by John Conyers
  John Conyers
  John Conyers, Jr. is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1965 . He is a member of the Democratic Party...
  
   and Charlie Melancon
  Charlie Melancon
  Charles Joseph "Charlie" Melancon was the U.S. Representative for , serving from 2005 to 2011, and the unsuccessful 2010 Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Republican David Vitter.-Early life, education and career:...
  
  . Among the provisions are repeal of limitations and responsible parties from using the bankruptcy courts as a subterfuge to leave victims without adequate legal recourse.

• June 24
• Donald Vidrine, BP site leader aboard the Deepwater Horizon, confirms he has been on administrative leave
  Administrative leave
  Administrative leave is a temporary leave from a job assignment, with pay and benefits intact. Generally, the term is reserved for employees of non-business institutions such as schools, police, and hospitals....
  
   since the incident.
• Pensacola Beach closed for the first time. Health advisories are posted are 33 miles (53.1 km) of Florida Panhandle beaches.
• Feldman refuses to stay
  Stay of execution
  A stay of execution is a court order to temporarily suspend the execution of a court judgment or other court order. The word "execution" does not necessarily mean the death penalty; it refers to the imposition of whatever judgment is being stayed....
  
   his order. He also said that he would release his financial information "as soon as their security protocol on the release of (the report) has been satisfied."
• Chrisitan Science Montitor in article headlined "Raining oil in Louisiana? Video suggests Gulf oil spill causing crude rain" reports on an amateur video which is reported to show it raining oil in Louisiana. It notes that speculation that use of the Corexit 9500 dispesant has made this possible. It quotes the EPA saying it "has no data, information or scientific basis that suggests that oil mixed with dispersant could possibly evaporate from the Gulf into the water cycle." Fast Company
  Fast Company (magazine)
  Fast Company is a full-color business magazine that releases 10 issues per year and reports on topics including innovation, digital media, technology, change management, leadership, design, and social responsibility...
  
   in an article headlined, "Raining Oil in Louisiana? Not Likely" tried to discount the claim but then adds that a memo on the MMS site says lighter crude oils can evaporate. The linked 1994 article on MMS says, "light crudes can evaporate 75% of the starting oil mass."
• The New York Times reports 272000 gallons (1,029.6 m³) of dispersants have been applied in the four weeks since the EPA banned their surface use May 26. In addition has used 342000 gallons (1,294.6 m³) sub-surface.
• New York Times in an article headlined "BP Is Pursuing Alaska Drilling Some Call Risky" says BP has gotten permission to get around offshore rules by building an "onshore" well which is to be built at Endicott, Alaska on an artificial sandbar of 31 acres (125,452.7 m²) and code named "Liberty." The well would go 2 miles (3 km) below the surface and then up to 8 miles (12.9 km) horizontally under the water to the oil reservoir.

• June 25
• With the first tropical depression of the season forming in the Gulf Allen outlines the downtime when a storm hits—in which the vessels disconnect from the oil recovery and drilling operations (114 to 120 hours before gale-force winds (40-knots) are forecasted). During this time the full amount of oil would go into the Gulf.
• Senator Nelson noting the times coupled with reconnecting says that a storm could cause oil to go unchecked into the Gulf for 10 days. Feldman's released financial statement shows he "owned shares in at least 17 oil and gas companies last year, including an unspecified interest in Transocean Ltd." in 2009.
• The Wall Street Journal reports he sold shares of Exxon, one of the parties in the moratorium case, on June 22 before hearing the case. The Journal reports that he had sold Transocean prior to the case and that he did not own stock in any of the companies affected directly by the moratorium.
• BP stock closes at $26.96—down 53% since April 20.
• Suttles tells the New Orleans Times-Picayune, "The flow rate has never impacted the response," adding it is "extraordinarily imprecise and we took a view very early on that we didn't think you could do it and we didn't think it was relevant either." BP hires former FEMA director James Lee Witt
  James Lee Witt
  James Lee Witt was Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency during the administration of President Bill Clinton....
  
   to evaluate its response and make suggestions on improvements.

June 26–30

• June 26
• The tropical depression becomes Tropical Storm Alex
  Tropical Storm Alex (2010)
  Hurricane Alex was a rare June hurricane and the first tropical cyclone to form in the 2010 Atlantic hurricane season. Originating from an area of disturbed weather on June 25, 2010, it slowly developed in the Caribbean Sea and struck Belize as a tropical storm. After entering the Gulf of...
  
  . The initial forecast track indicates it will not directly go over the spill.
• Allen in his daily briefing notes that the time to resume operations once the ships returned would be 38 hours for Discover Enterprise, 72 hours for the Development Driller 2, 72 hours for Development Driller 3, and 90 hours for the Q4000.
• Obama and 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 ....
  
   meeting at the 2010 G-20 Toronto summit
  2010 G-20 Toronto summit
  The 2010 G-20 Toronto summit was the fourth meeting of the G-20 heads of government, in discussion of the global financial system and the world economy, which took place at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, during June 26–27, 2010...
  
   in Toronto, Canada. Reuters quoting a "British official" says, "Both agreed that there was nothing to be gained from damaging BP as a going concern...Both agreed that BP must meet its obligations to cap the leak, clean up the damage and meet legitimate compensation costs."
• BP has finished installing the first free standing riser which will be used when a third vessel (most likely the Helix Producer) starts collecting and processing oil.

• June 27
• Alex is downgraded to a tropical depression while crossing Yucatan
  Yucatán
  Yucatán officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Yucatán is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 106 municipalities and its capital city is Mérida....
  
   and then elevated to a tropical storm once it hits the Gulf. BP and Shell are among the companies that evacuate personnel from their rigs in the western Gulf.
• G20 Toronto Summit Declaration says, "Following the recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico we recognize the need to share best practices to protect the marine environment, prevent accidents related to offshore exploration and development, as well as transportation, and deal with their consequences."
• Unified Command issues press release headlined, "Volunteers, agencies counter misinformation about oil spill" which quotes Bianca Ephraim, a receptionist at the National Parks Service who takes calls about oil in Florida saying, "“Yes, there are tar balls here and there...But our water is clear as glass." Harv Wilson, identified as a contractor in the release, flatly dismisses a rumor that oil-coated birds were being stolen from beaches at night, in order to hide the evidence of the spill.
• Tar balls wash ashore on the Mississippi beaches of St. Andrews beach and at the Lake Mars pier in Gulf Park Estates, Mississippi
  Gulf Park Estates, Mississippi
  Gulf Park Estates is a census-designated place in Jackson County, Mississippi, United States. It is part of the Pascagoula, Mississippi Metropolitan Statistical Area...
  
  .

• June 28
• BP says it is spending $100 million a day on the spill. BP denies a report attributed to Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin
  Igor Sechin
  Igor Ivanovich Sechin is a Russian official, considered a close ally of Vladimir Putin. Sechin is often described as one of Putin's most conservative counselors and the leader of the Kremlin's Siloviki faction, a statist lobby gathering former security services agents...
  
   on RIA Novosti that Hayward is going to resign. Sechinto made the comments before meeting Hayward to discuss TNK-BP
  TNK-BP
  TNK-BP is a major vertically integrated Russian oil company. It is Russia's third largest oil producer and among the ten largest private oil companies in the world. TNK-BP is Russia's third largest oil company in terms of reserves and crude oil production...
  
   which is responsible for a quarter of BP’s global oil output.
• After the meeting both sides said the leadership change was not discussed.
• BP Senior Vice President Kent Wells says that waves of 10 to 12 feet (3.7 m) which is possible even if Alex skirts the spill area could delay connecting the riser to Helix Producer I to begin a third relief vessel. Wells says it will take three days of good weather to complete the operation.
• Allen says that even though Development Driller III is within 1000 feet (304.8 m) of the Deepwater Horizon wellbore and has begun ranging
  Ranging
  Ranging is a process or method to determine the distance from one location or position to another location or position. Another term for this method is lateration, see unilateration...
  
  , it would probably take until the end of August before the bottom kill operation would be complete.
• Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals Secretary Alan Levine sends Suttles a letter for $10 million to fund six months of mental health services for people affected by the spill. Levine wrote, "There exists anger, anxiety and uncertainty among the families and communities affected by the spill, which will easily manifest into addiction and various forms of mental health crisis if not confronted."
• Bill Clinton
  Bill Clinton
  William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
  
   suggests to CNN that the Navy should use explosives to end the spill.

• June 29
• Simon Boxall of the National Oceanography Centre
  National Oceanography Centre
  - The National Oceanography Centre :The National Oceanography Centre is a marine science research and technology institution based on two sites in Southampton and Liverpool, United Kingdom...
  
   reporting on lessons learned from Exxon Valdez says that the massive burns and use of chemical dispersants may have done more damage than letting the oil take its natural course in that light crude
  Light crude oil
  Light crude oil is liquid petroleum that has a low density and flows freely at room temperature. It has a low viscosity, low specific gravity and high API gravity due to the presence of a high proportion of light hydrocarbon fractions. It generally has a low wax content...
  
   disintegrates relatively easily. He says, "The chemically cleaned up areas have taken the longest to recover and they are still damaged…The areas that were left alone actually recovered much quicker."
• BP spokesman Scott Dean tells the Associated Press that the company is giving incentives to franchise stations that includes volume allowances and reductions in credit card fees that merchants pay when customers use their credit cards to buy gasoline and items in station stores. Some BP branded stations say they have had a 10 percent to 40 percent decline in business since the spill. Alex upgrade to hurricane status (Category 1) about 10 PM CDT.

• June 30
• Mark Proegler spokesman for BP says Hurricane Alex will delay the arrival of Helix Producer until July 6 or 7.
• Financial Times
  Financial Times
  The Financial Times is an international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and printed in 24 cities around the world. Its primary rival is the Wall Street Journal, published in New York City....
  
   reports Anadarko was informed of well design, changes to the well design, and identified major well control including the long string and the use of centralisers that have been discussed as a possible cause of the failure. John Christiansen, Anadarko’s spokesman, says “What we knew was that the design, the long string and the use of centralisers all met industry standards if executed correctly.” BP shares jumped 1.8% after a JPMorgan analyst suggested the possibility of a BP buyout by Exxon or Shell.
• Allen who was succeeded on May 24 by Robert Papp as Coast Guard Commandant officially retires from Coast Guard but will remain as National Incident Commander.
• EPA releases study of oil dispersants. "EPA's results indicated that none of the eight dispersants tested, including the product in use in the Gulf, displayed biologically significant endocrine disrupting activity. While the dispersant products alone – not mixed with oil - have roughly the same impact on aquatic life, JD-2000 and Corexit 9500 were generally less toxic to small fish and JD-2000 and SAF-RON GOLD were least toxic to mysid shrimp," the report says.
• Allen reports wave height at the wellhead from Hurrican Alex is seven feet. Allen reports 107 offers of foreign assistance from 44 countries and four international organizations.
• A 20-meter safety zone is placed around all booms. Violations have a civil fine of $40,000 and willful violations are a Class felony.