| Day 59 of the Gulf Coast Disaster - Timeline |
We are now on day 59 of the Gulf Coast oil spill.What has that meant to us as a nation?
Here are a few defining moments since the oil spill began on April 20, 2010.
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April 20, 2010 - 11 workers die in the Deepwater Horizon oil well explosion.
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April 24, 2010 - Underwater robotic vehicles discover oil leaking from the damaged drill pipe of the rig (two days after the rig sank).
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April 26, 2010 - The oil slick stretches 80 miles across the Gulf and is 36 miles southeast of Louisiana.
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April 28, 2010 - Experts now believe that at least 5,000 barrels(210,000 gallons) of oil are being released from the well each day.
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May 2, 2010: President visits Gulf coast oil spill for the first time.
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May 6, 2010 - A specially constructed containment vessel was lowered into the Gulf of Mexico, but ice crystals plugged the top of the structure, preventing it from capping the leak.
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May 6, 2010 - Oil from the leaking well made its first confirmed landfall.
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May 20, 2010 - Lawmakers release live streaming video of the underwater oil leak
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May 28, 2010 - President makes his second visit to the Gulf and states, "I am the president and the buck stops with me."
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May 29, 2010 - BP announces that its "top kill" plan to fill the well had failed.
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June 1, 2010 - Scientists claim they have found more than one oil plume, one of them "22 miles long, six miles wide and more than a thousand feet deep". BP denies the existence of underway oil plumes.
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June 1, 2020 - BP CEO, Tony Hayward was quoted saying "I'd like my life back".
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June 9, 2010 - Actor Kevin Costner testifies on Capitol Hill about his company's oil-cleaning devices. BP ordered 32 of Costner's Ocean Therapy Solutions.
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June 10, 2010 - Experts now predict approximately 800,000 gallons of oil are leaking into the Gulf each day.
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June 15, 2010 - President Obama gives speech from the Oval Office in which he vowed to make BP pay for losses due to the disaster.
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June 16, 2010 - BP officials met with Obama and agree to set up a $20 Billion escrow fund to pay damages.
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June 16, 2010 - Scientists increase the estimate of oil escaping in the gulf to up to 2.5 million gallons a day, from around 800,000 gallons a day.
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