Chicago. The BP oil spill could cost the U.S. Gulf Coast region almost $23 billion in lost travel and tourism revenue over the next three years, according to a study released Thursday by Oxford Economics and the U.S. Travel Association. 

Iowa. Search engine giant Google announced earlier this week that it has signed up to a 20-year wind power purchase agreement with NextEra Energy.

At the end of the month, Google will start buying 114 MW of electricity from NextEra Energy Resources’ Story II wind farm in Iowa.

Washington. A top BP official acknowledged Thursday the he didn’t review a key document that could have hinted of a potential problem with the well under the Deepwater Horizon, the drilling rig that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico April 20. 

Nassau. Bahamas. A newly formed tropical depression raked the low-lying Bahamas with rain and lightening on Thursday as it headed on a course for the site of massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.