emily schmidt joins us from washington with the latest. good morning, emily. reporter: rob and meg, good morning. this is the best news of the ongoing oil spill story. but all of the key players are warning, there s no guarantee yet that this cap is going to be topped for good. this morning, there is no oil gushing into the gulf of mexico. and this picture of nothing means everything for now. the oil stopped. like they said, if we can get it to where we can go back to our way of life, that will be the most awesome thing. reporter: it is a temporary stop. but the biggest success in containing the oil spill in 88 days. yesterday, bp shut down three valves, one after the other. then, at 2:15 p.m., the company tweeted the well integrity test was starting. 70 minutes later, bp confirmed what the picture showed. there is no flow of oil going into the gulf of mexico. reporter: now, comes the next step. measures the measure of the oil on the new containment cap, if it olds.
stopped flowing, one of the biggest victims of this spill ha politically has been president obama. the toll it s taken on his presidency and this question, how can he undo the damage. one of the great ironies of his president is the more victories he achieves stimulus, health care, wall street reform, the more his poll numbers seem to go down. some of his loudest critics are on the left. also, we ll tell you which democratic senator left for dead dead has suddenly surged ahead of his tea party foe. people in washington are used to political earthquakes but they woke up to a real one this morning. those of us heavier sleepers missed it. it s a good reminder there are a lot more fault lines in this country than you might think. where they are, who s at risk. bottom line, earthquakes aren t just for californians any more. let s start with the latest on bp s efforts to seal off this oil leak for good. anne thompson is nbc s chief environmental affairs correspondent and maybe no l
bumper stickers, key chains. go to oprahstore.com to order yours today. 100% of the profits go to focus driven. oprah: cheryl and her daughter veronica were joining us on skype, but the skype went down so we have them on the phone. oprah, we re doing well today, and we have many days ahead of us. we re so excited. and i have to thank you for just opening the eyes of america and giving me the opportunity to heal myself. i m alive. oprah: so how long you were in treatment for how long? i was in treatment for about 3 weeks. actually, it was longer than that. i did some inpatient for about 3 weeks, and then following that, outpatient. oprah: and how was did you have a rough time in the beginning? it s a very i d say the first 3 days were difficult. but after that is when i began to learn things about myself and realize that i was in the right place. oprah: so how long have you been sober now? 205 days. oprah: wow. good for you. [applause] oprah: veronica, i was so moved
this is the feed from the bottom of the gulf of mexico. the new cap is being closely monitored. and no one is declaring victory yet. emily schmidt joins us from washington with the latest. good morning, emily. reporter: rob and meg, good morning. this is the best news of the ongoing oil spill story. but all of the key players are warning, there s no guarantee yet that this cap is going to be topped for good. this morning, there is no oil gushing into the gulf of mexico. and this picture of nothing means everything for now. the oil stopped. like they said, if we can get it to where we can go back to our way of life, that will be the most awesome thing. reporter: it is a temporary stop. but the biggest success in containing the oil spill in 88 days. yesterday, bp shut down three valves, one after the other. then, at 2:15 p.m., the company tweeted the well integrity test was starting. 70 minutes later, bp confirmed what the picture showed. there is no flow of oil goi
chemistry and biology. abc s john hendren points out five lessons learned. reporter: the oil spill has brought us new phrases. top cap. top kill. blowout preventer. junk shot. but over the past three months it s also given us a litany of fascinating oil trivia that you probably never knew, and now won t be able to get out of your head. no, i didn t know that. reporter: here are our top five things we ve learned from the spill in the gulf of mexico. number one, oil evaporates. who knew that much of the oil in these areas dissipates within days? still, scientists say the small percentage that remains will affect local wildlife and the marshes that make up 40% of the nation s wetlands for years. there will continue to be residues of oil and oil-based chemicals in the marine environment, possibly for 10 or 20 years or even more. reporter: number two, the watchdogs were busy watching porn. who knew government inspectors found the regulators who oversaw the deepwater hori