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.

A drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico is on fire after a natural gas blowout. NBC reports that 47 people were rescued from the blowout, which occurred 55 miles offshore.

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:

If you're a dolphin (are you?), the Gulf of Mexico isn't exactly the place you want to be right now. The dolphins there are already dealing with a myriad of health issues stemming from the Deepwater Horizon explosion, and since June, a number of dolphins have washed ashore after having been killed and mutilated. The latest incident happened this past Friday, when researchers in Gulfport, Miss. found a dolphin whose lower jaw had been removed.

In not-very-shocking news from the Gulf of Mexico, scientists have said that six dolphins that washed up on the shore there had oil on them, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration officials have traced the oil directly to last year's BP spill. Previously, experts said that "unusual mortality events" were responsible for the deaths of over 400 baby dolphins in the Gulf. Well, we have a culprit for at least a few of them now.

According to the state the Mississippi, guess who's stiffing victims of the Gulf oil spill? The state's Attorney General wrote yesterday that thanks to "sweeping deficiencies and violations of law," BP is allegedly "underpaying" legitimate claims. Surprised? [Bloomberg]

Remember that little "Gulf of Mexico oil spill" story from the summer? The government won't let it slide! The Justice Department has filed a multi-billion dollar lawsuit against BP and others, seeking removal costs and damages. Lots of it.

Barack Obama pledged in March to expand offshore oil drilling. Shortly thereafter, BP spilled 172 million gallons of oil into the water. So now drilling on both coasts and the eastern Gulf of Mexico will be re-banned for years. Hooray!

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.

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.

The Gulf of Mexico's latest plague is a "sea-snot blizzard," a "huge, slimy event" covering the ocean floor in suffocating layers of goo that could cause a "deadly void." Apparently phytoplankton create huge amounts of snot when stressed. [NatGeo, image]

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.

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

An offshore rig to the West of the Deepwater Horizon disaster site has exploded. Luckily, it was non-producing and there are no reported deaths. But man, oil companies really shouldn't have listened to that sinister Explode-O-Rig 5000™ salesman. [NYT]

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.

The man appointed to handle a $20 billion oil spill compensation fund from BP, Kenneth R. Feinberg, yesterday told spill claimants, "No more beating up on BP." He also promised that personal claims would be processed in 48 hours. [LAT]

Remember when the government said "there's absolutely no evidence" of "any significant concentration of oil" left in the Gulf of Mexico a couple of weeks ago? Surprise! There's a lot of oil left, and it's spreading along the ocean floor.