Oil floats on the surface of the Gulf of Mexico around a work boat at the site of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico June 2. As the desperate effort to contain the gusher proceeded, the slick stretched farther. Tar balls and other oil debris from the giant, fragmented slick reached Alabama's Dauphin Island, parts of Mississippi and were less than 16 km (10 miles) from Florida's northwest Panhandle coast.

Boaters make their way along the edge of the oil slick about a quarter mile from the east shore of the Chandeleur Islands, La., on May 5, 2010. Since the April 20th BP offshore oil rig accident hundreds of thousands of gallons of crude oil have been leaking from an underwater well about 40 miles off the coast.