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Images of the Gulf's Disaster

Environmental disasters like the BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico are far from uncommon. Kate Sheppard on why Obama should now rethink his support for offshore drilling—or risk giving up on the climate-change fight.

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Alex Brandon / AP Photo
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A pod of Bottle Nose dolphins swim under the oily water Chandeleur Sound, La., Thursday, May 6, 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico.

Alex Brandon / AP Photo
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Dark clouds of smoke and fire emerge as oil burns during a controlled fire in the Gulf of Mexico, May 6, 2010.

Justin E. Stumberg / Getty Images
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Oil from the leaking Deep Horizon oil rig is seen swirling through the currents in the Gulf of Mexico Thursday, May 6, 2010.

Dave Martin / AP Photo
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Brown Pelicans go to flight as commercial fisherman hired by BP lay oil retention booms near their home on New Harbor Island in the Gulf of Mexico, Tuesday, May 4, 2010.

Dave Martin / AP Photo
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Workers unload oil boom lines to be laid by local fishermen May 4, 2010 in Hopedale, Louisiana.

Sandy Huffaker / Getty Images
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Workers spread oil booms along a railroad trestle that crosses the bay in Bay St. Louis, Miss., as preparations continue to head off damage from the impending oil spill along the Gulf coast.

Dave Martin / AP Photo
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Local boat captains listen to safety instructions on how to help clean up the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico on Friday in Venice, Louisiana.

Chris Graythen / Getty Images
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President Obama comments on the oil spill in the Rose Garden of the White House on Friday.

Win McNamee / Getty Images
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Oil booms line the waters around around the wetlands near the Southpass of the Mississippi River on the Louisiana Coast on Friday.

Chris Graythen / Getty Images
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Shrimper J.C. Necais stands on his at the boat harbor in Pass Christian, Miss. Saturday.

Dave Martin / AP Photo
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Dr. Erica Miller, right, and Danene Birtell with Tri-State Bird Rescue and Research work to help a Northern Gannet bird, covered in oil, normally white when full grown, at a facility in Fort Jackson, La., Friday.

Alex Brandon / AP Photo
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A general view of a small island in the wetlands of St. Bernard Parish near the Gulf of Mexico near New Orleans. An estimated leak of 1,000 to 5,000 barrels of oil a day are still leaking into the Gulf from the Deepwater Horizon wellhead.

Graythen / Getty Images
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Two brown pelicans and a flock of seagulls rest on the shore of Ship Island, Mississippi, as a boom line floats just offshore. Several hundred yards of boom line have been set up on the north side of the island to try to contain the oil spill.

William Colgin, Biloxi Sun Herald, MCT / Newscom
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Workers load oil booms onto a crew boat to help contain oil from a leaking pipeline in the Gulf of Mexico near the Louisiana coast. The leak resulted from last week's explosion and collapse of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig.

Patrick Semansky / AP Photo
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A boat makes its way through crude oil in the Gulf of Mexico.

Chris Graythen / Getty Images
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NASA's Aqua satellite captured this image of the Louisiana coast using its Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer instrument. With the Mississippi Delta on the left, the silver swirling oil slick is highly visible in this image from Tuesday.

UPI / Newscom
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A worker looks over an oil boom as it collects oil from a leaking pipeline.

Patrick Semansky / AP Photo
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This satellite image from Monday shows a detail of the oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico.

DigitalGlobe / Getty Images
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Oil-rig explosion survivors reunite with family and friends at a hotel in Kenner, Louisiana.

Gerald Herbert / AP Photo
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Fire boats battle flames at Deepwater Horizon off shore oil rig.

U.S. Coast Guard via Getty Images
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More than 50 miles off the southeastern coast of Louisiana's tip, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig is seen burning Wednesday.

Gerald Herbert / AP Photo