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April 29 – Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal declares a state of emergency and the federal government sends in skimmers and booms to prevent environmental damage. The spill is about 16 miles off the Louisiana coast and stretches across a 600-mile area. April 30 – President Obama halts any new offshore drilling projects unless conducted by rigs with new safeguards. BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward says the company takes full responsibility for the spill and will pay all legitimate claims and the cost of the cleanup. The Louisiana Departments of Health & Hospitals and Environmental Quality say the strong odor blanketing much of coastal Louisiana and the metro New Orleans area is “possibly” the result of the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. May 1 – A light sheen of oil washes ashore in Louisiana. 1,900 emergency workers and 300 ships are sent to the site. May 2 – President Obama visits the Gulf Coast to see cleanup efforts first-hand. U.S. officials close areas affected by the spill to fishing for an initial period of 10 days. BP starts to drill a relief well alongside the failed well, a process that will take two to three months to complete. The sheen of oil can be seen in the Mississippi River’s South Pass, a major channel through the salt marshes. May 3 – BP says it will pay for all the cleanup costs from the spill. Thousands of miles of federal fishing areas remain closed. BP tries installing a shutoff valve on one of the three underwater leaks, but this is a complicated operation that might not succeed. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, officials say the oil slick appears to be drifting toward the Alabama and Florida coasts, and the Chandeleur Islands off Louisiana’s southern tip. May 5 – A barge begins towing a 98-ton containment chamber to the site of the leak. BP says one of the three leaks has been shut off by capping a valve, but that will not cut the amount of oil gushing out. This procedure has never been done before at a depth of 5,000 feet. May 6 – Oil washes ashore on the Chandeleur Islands off the Louisiana