British oil company BP is finally settling up with the federal government and five states affected by the devastating oil spill that hit the Gulf Coast when BP’s Deepwater Horizon rig exploded in 2010. The company has tentatively agreed to pay $18.7 billion in damages over 18 years, The New York Times reports.

Last night, 60 Minutes aired a report on how BP is trying to get out of a contract that has forced the oil giant to pay billions in reparations stemming from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, even to people who weren't directly affected by the disaster. The funny thing is that BP has no one to blame but itself.

Halliburton announced today that it will plead guilty to destroying critical evidence in the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, in exchange for three years probation and a fine.

Ever since it exploded on April 20, 2010 — killing 11 crew members — BP's Deepwater Horizon oil rig has been a rotting carcass submerged in the Gulf of Mexico. In related news, the Coast Guard announced tonight that a mysterious substance is leaking from the wreckage and nobody knows what it is:

Happy BP Oil Spill Anniversary! In honor of this, the AP reports that, "More than 3,200 oil and gas wells classified as active lie abandoned beneath the Gulf of Mexico, with no cement plugging." Ugh.

Have you seen the Times' account of the final hours of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig? Because: Wow.

The GOP's rising star, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, was the driving force behind the construction of sand berms to curb the Gulf oil spill. They were considered environmentally unsound, and a presidential commission has found that they didn't even work.

Poor BP is claiming that U.S. government estimates on the size of the Gulf oil spill are way too high, by 20-50 percent. Of course, the more oil that was spilled means more fines the company must pay. Nice try!

Scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration believe they have a "smoking gun" after finding dead coral 4,500 feet below the surface in the Gulf of Mexico, seven miles from the Deepwater Horizon rig site. What a coincidence.

The tab for BP's oil spill is expected to reach nearly $40 billion, the company said as it announced its third quarter financial results today. That's $7 billion more than expected, thanks to pesky legal fees and cleanup operations. [Bloomberg]

A presidential commission yesterday found that BP and Halliburton knew that the cement mixture used to seal the Macondo well before the oil spill had "repeatedly failed lab tests." You should probably grab some Halliburton shares while they're hot.

It took awhile, but BP's Gulf oil well "is physically incapable of leaking another drop."

The blowout preventer that failed to prevent a blowout on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig is at a NASA facility being examined as evidence in the forthcoming Gulf oil spill trial. The rig's owner, Transocean wants to "examine" it first.

The Obama administration yesterday said 3,500 abandoned Gulf oil wells must be plugged by the companies that abandoned them. But American Petroleum Institute President Jack Gerard said, "This is not the time" to ask more of struggling oil companies.

BP has released its internal investigative report on the Deepwater Horizon explosion, and — spoiler! — it "deflects attention away from BP," pinning more responsibility on Transocean and Halliburton. Maybe that's true? Or maybe it's just standard corporate PR.

Good news from U.S. government scientists! The dumping of 771,000 gallons of controversial dispersants in the Gulf, like Corexit, worked and everything is cool now. Oil-eating microbes aren't using up oxygen or creating "dead zones," so let's move on.

Last night, the blowout preventer that failed to prevent the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, was retrieved and handed over to FBI investigators. Some documents suggest a dead battery in the device could be partially responsible for the leak.

FBI agents are waiting on board a ship for BP's blowout preventer to be pulled up later today in the Gulf of Mexico.

Another day, another "good" oil spill story. Once again, scientists say bacteria is eating oil, and the giant underwater plume is basically harmless (again!). This one should hold up until someone discovers glow-in-the dark sea turtles next week. [NPR]

The owner of the Deepwater Horizon rig, Transocean, has accused BP of withholding information about the rig explosion on April 20. BP calls it a "publicity stunt" meant to deflect attention. Meanwhile, the mess both companies created is still there.