in the gulf, patches of oil are becoming less apparent, at least on the water's surface. but federal officials, coastal residents and environmentalists know there's still a lot of damage that is less visible. nbc's chief environmental affairs correspondent, anne thompson, is live in venice, louisiana, watching it all. anne, what is the sense today? what is today, 101? 101 days? >> reporter: it is 101 days, andrea. but today the focus is on a meeting that's happening in new orleans that just broke up between admiral allen, thad allen, he's the national innocent commander on this crisis for the government and the coastal parish presidents. and they are talking, they were talking about downsizing this response one the well is killed. the well has been temporarilyรง capped for now two weeks and that means for two week is no new oil has gone into the gulf. and federal officials say that when they do their overflights, they're having a harder time finding the oil. they're seeing light streams of oil and no significant oil east