NEW ORLEANS -- Like the coastal waters soiled by BP oil, there has been an ebb and flow to the response effort over the past 100 days.
On April 20, a 240 foot flame lit up the night sky, 40 miles off the coast of Venice Louisiana.
There were 126 crew members aboard the Deepwater Horizon rig when a series of explosions rocked the platform.
"We have no idea where the 11 people, the unaccounted for are at this time," said Coast Guard Rear Adm. Mary Landry the next day. "We have capabilities to search through the night and we continue the search and rescue case."
The rig sank two days later, and the 11 missing were never found.
Widows from the disaster later talked about their loss at a congressional hearing in Chalmette.
"I was devastated," said Natalie Roshto. "I never thought it would be on this level. Ever."
"What I am seeking is accountability from the wrongdoers who caused this terrible tragedy," said Courtney Kemp.
The wrecked wellhead about a mile below the surface of the water spewed an estimated 200,000 gallons of oil per day into the Gulf of Mexico.
President Obama visited the oil soaked region for the first time on May 2.
He said, "Every American affected by this spill should know this: Your government will do whatever it takes, for as long as it takes, to stop this crisis,"
It took about a month for the first thick oil to wash ashore along coastal Louisiana.
On May 18, BP crude covered the marsh in Pass a Loutre.
"This is where I was born and raised, in south Louisiana, and you don't want to see an area that you work in, and that you care about covered in oil," said charter boat Captain William Wall.
The disaster brought Louisiana Congressman Charlie Melancon to tears during a hearing on the spill in Washington, DC.
"Our culture is threatened," said Melancon, a Democrat. "Our economy is threatened. Everything that I know and love is at risk. Even tough these marshes lie along coastal Louisiana. These are America's wetlands."
On June 3, the image of a brown pelican, the Louisiana state bird, struggling in oil on a barrier island near Grand Isle symbolized the struggles of a state under siege by BP oil.
"There should be no requests, no asking," said Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal who spotted the bird. "This is BP's oil. This is our coastline. This coastline belongs to the people of Louisiana. We're the ones that are going to have to live with the damage. If BP thinks it can just write us a check and go away, they are sadly mistaken."
Coastal parish presidents continue to be some of the loudest voices pushing BP and federal government to step up the pace of the oil spill cleanup.
"Give me somebody I can put my hands around their neck," Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser lamented on June 23.
"Those individuals making decisions from Washington, DC need to be down here, not just for a photo op, not just for a sound bite; pack their bags and stay down here until this job is finished," said St. Bernard Parish President Craig Taffaro on June 28.
On June 1, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder confirmed BP and others could face criminal charges as a result of the spill.
"We would be looking at a wide range of things, everything from false statements to the way in which certain entities conducted themselves," said Holder. "There is really nothing that's off the table at this point."
Shortly after the spill, the Obama Administration imposed a moratorium on deepwater drilling.
On June 24, offshore workers in Houma strongly urged the president to drop the ban which they claim could cost Louisiana tens of thousands of jobs.
"This industry cannot compete against our government trying to put us out of business," said Gulf Island CEO Kerry Chauvin.
Despite their efforts to mount the largest oil spill response in U.S. history, BP officials did little to endear themselves to people along the Gulf Coast.
"There's no one who wants this over more than I do," said BP CEO Tony Hayward on May 30. "I would like my life back."
"I hear sometimes that large oil companies are greedy companies that don't care," said BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg on June 16. "That is not the case with BP. We care about the small people."
On July 15, BP finally stopped the gusher of crude oil, 85 days into the disaster. A cap fitted on top of the damaged wellhead appears to be holding.
BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles says 100 days is a milestone nobody wanted to see.
"The first thing that I think about is those 11 people who lost their lives on the twentieth of April," said Suttles. "We've got so many things to learn from this accident, and actually, many, many things will change."
The so-called "static kill" in which mud and cement are blasted into the top of the well is now expected to start on Aug. 2.
