62 days have passed since the initial explosion of BP's Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico, and the crude oil and natural gas continue to gush from the seafloor. Re-revised estimates now place the flow rate at up to 60,000 barrels a day - a figure just shy of a worst-case estimate of 100,000 barrels a day made by BP in an internal document recently released by a congressional panel. Louisiana's state treasurer has estimated environmental and economic damages from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill could range from $40 billion to $100 billion. Collected here are recent photographs from the Gulf of Mexico, and of those affected by the continued flow of oil and gas into the ocean.
1. The Q4000 drilling rig operates in the Gulf of Mexico at the site of the Deepwater Horizon disaster Wednesday, June 16, 2010. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)
2. James McGee vacuums oil in Barataria Bay on the coast of Louisiana, Sunday, June 20, 2010. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
3. Pelicans are released into the wild Sunday June 20, 2010, at the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge in to the Saint Charles Bay. Nearly 40 pelicans were brought from to the refuge from the Louisiana shores where they had been covered in oil. (AP Photo/The Caller-Times, Steven Alford)
4. Smoke billows from a controlled burn of spilled oil off the Louisiana coast in the Gulf of Mexico coast line June 13, 2010. (REUTERS/Sean Gardner)
5. Oil soaked boom is seen near the base of a fishing pier on June 14, 2010 in Gulf Shores, Alabama. (Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
6. (1 of 2) Crude oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill washes ashore in Orange Beach, Alabama, Saturday, June 12, 2010. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)
7. (2 of 2) Crude oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill washes ashore in Orange Beach, Alabama, Saturday, June 12, 2010. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)
8. Oil cleanup crews make their morning patrol along the beach in Gulf Shores, Alabama, Wednesday, June 16, 2010. New waves of oil have not come ashore and cleanup work continues, leaving Alabama's beaches in much better condition than just a few days earlier. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)
9. Three oil-coated white ibis sit in marsh grass on a small island in Bay Barataria near Grand Isle, Louisiana June 13, 2010. These birds are being rescued and transported to the Fort Jackson Rehabilitation Center. (REUTERS/Sean Gardner)
10. BP CEO Tony Hayward is surrounded by photographers as he arrives to testify about the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico at the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, June 17, 2010. (REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque)
11. Representative Steve Scalise holds up a photo of a pelican covered in oil as he questions BP CEO Tony Hayward during a House Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee hearing on "The Role Of BP In The Deepwater Horizon Explosion And Oil Spill", in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, June 17, 2010. (ROD LAMKEY JR/AFP/Getty Images)
12. Summer Burkes of New Orleans watches in the oil-stricken community of Grand Isle as President Barack Obama discusses the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in a an Oval Office speech, the first Oval Office speech of his presidency June 15, 2010. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
13. An oil sheen sits on the surface of Barataria Bay June 19, 2010 west of Port Sulpher, Louisiana. (Sean Gardner/Getty Images)
14. The dorsal fin of a dolphin is seen as clean-up workers collect tar balls of oil along a stretch of oil-contaminated beach June 14, 2010 in Grand Isle, Louisiana. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
15. Oil floats off the bow of a boat in Barataria Bay on the coast of Louisiana, Saturday, June 19, 2010. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
16. In this June 18, 2010 satellite image provided by NASA, Oil from the Deepwater Horizon rig was visible on the surface of Gulf of Mexico. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Terra satellite took this picture. The oil appears as varying shades of white, as sunlight is reflected off its surface. (AP Photo/NASA)
17. A workboat skims oil from the surface of the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday, June 16, 2010. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)
18. Local fishermen hired to lay oil booms listen to Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal during his tour of oil impacted areas in the Northern shores of Barataria Bay in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, Tuesday, June 15, 2010. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
19. A blue heron stands as oil cleanup boats work in the Perdido Pass in Orange Beach, Alabama, Wednesday, June 16, 2010. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)
20. This digitally enhanced satellite image captured by DigitalGlobe on June 15, 2010 and released June 17, 2010 shows part of the oil spill clean up effort in the Gulf of Mexico. This image leverages the different sensor bands of DigitalGlobe's WorldView-2 satellite to highlight the oil and dispersant. (REUTERS/DigitalGlobe)
21. Oily absorbent booms lie piled up on a beach in Gulf Shores, Alabama, Wednesday, June 16, 2010. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)
22. Marc Provencher, a biologist with the US Fish and Wildlife Service and based in Anderson, California, tries to catch a brown pelican covered with oil at Empire Jetty in the Gulf of Mexico, near Venice, Louisiana, June 15, 2010. Birds are caught and then cleaned at the Fort Jackson Oiled Wildlife Rehabilitation Center. (SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)
23. Plaquemines Parish Coastal Zone Management Director P. J. Hahn holds up an oil-stained Sandwich Tern in Long Bay on June 19, 2010 west of Port Sulpher, Louisiana. The bird was reported and delivered to the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries for rehabilitation. (Sean Gardner/Getty Images)
24. Smoke billows from a controlled burn of spilled oil off the Louisiana coast in the Gulf of Mexico coast line June 13, 2010. (REUTERS/Sean Gardner)
25. Marsh grasses covered in oil are seen in Bay Jimmy, Thursday, June 17, 2010, near Myrtle Grove, Louisiana. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
26. Oil stained pelicans sit on a dredging hose in Barataria Bay June 19, 2010 near Port Sulpher, Louisiana. (Sean Gardner/Getty Images)
27. Oil is seen in the deep recesses of marshland in the northern reaches of Barataria Bay, Louisiana, Thursday, June 17, 2010. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
28. Oil floats on the water June 14, 2010 off Grand Isle, Louisiana. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
29. Boat captain Brent "Hollywood" Shaver talks with a client who canceled his fishing trip on Wednesday, June 9, 2010 in Orange Beach, Alabama. Shaver, a long time charter boat operator, is shutting down his inshore fishing business because of the gulf oil spill. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)
30. Jars of water mixed with oil that were collected from the Gulf Coast waters of Louisiana and Alabama are stacked in front of Gulf Coast residents as they attend a news conference on Capitol Hill June 16, 2010 in Washington, DC. About 90 residents from the Gulf Coast participated in a news conference to tell stories on how the oil spill has impacted their lives and to call on for a clean energy future. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
31. Oil clouds the surface of Barataria Bay June 19, 2010 near Port Sulpher, Louisiana. (Sean Gardner/Getty Images)
32. A worker adjusts a casing pipe on the drill floor of the Development Driller II, which is drilling a relief well, at the site of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on June 19, 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana. (Charlie Neibergall/Getty Images)
33. Fire and smoke rise from a controlled burn of oil on the surface of the Gulf of Mexico near BP's Deepwater Horizon spill source on June 17, 2010. (REUTERS/Daniel Beltra/Greenpeace)
34. Lawrence "Chine" Terrebonne makes fishing net in Chine's Cajun Net Shop on June 16, 2010 in Galliano, Louisiana. Due to the bans on fishing in many areas of the Gulf, Terrebonne, who has been making nets for 61 years, has experienced a drop-off in orders for new nets. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
35. Oil covers the surface of the Gulf of Mexico on the vicinity of BP's Deepwater Horizon spill source on June 17, 2010. (REUTERS/Daniel Beltra/Greenpeace)
36. Out of work shrimper Nolan Guidry stands beside his boat while waiting to be granted permission to go shrimping again due to the ban on fishing in much of the Gulf of Mexico after the BP oil spill June 13, 2010 in Golden Meadow, Louisiana. Guidry, who must now subsist off of meager checks from BP, has been shrimping his entire life and comes from generations of shrimpers. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
37. A boat patrols Perdido Bay as the sun rises in Orange Beach, Alabama, Saturday, June 12, 2010. Authorities closed the Perdido Pass to boat traffic amidst fears that large amounts of oil would flow into the pass on the tidal change. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)
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