BP oil well capped one year ago today

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - One year ago today, BP stopped the flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico with a 75-ton cap lowered onto the well off the coast of Louisiana. The well spewed oil into the gulf for 85 days after the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded on April 20, 2010, killing eleven men.

After the explosion and fire aboard the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, engineers worked for weeks to try to figure out how to cap the well and stop the flow of oil into the Gulf.

First, BP tried to get the seal-off valves on the blowout preventer to work. That failed.

Then the company lowered a 40-foot steel containment chamber over the gushing well, to syphon oil to a ship on the surface. The device iced up and failed.

The next step was something the company called a "top kill." It involved pumping heavy fluid down to the well to plug it. That failed when the force of the gushing well was stronger than the fluid being pumped down to it.

BP followed up with robots which made a clean cut to the broken pipe, allowing a new cap and an anti-freeze mix to make a tighter seal.

By early June, crews managed to suction up 10,000 barrels of oil a day.

Then, on July 15th, 86 days after oil started gushing into the Gulf, a new cap finally stopped the flow of oil.

By the time it was over, Government scientists say nearly five million barrels of oil had polluted the Gulf.

The fallout from the spill ignited a series of lawsuits, damage claims and policy changes as oil washed up on the beaches of the gulf coast and clean-up efforts began.

Now, BP is claiming the economic crisis for the coast is over. BP wants to reduce future payments to victims of the oil spill, saying things are rapidly getting back to normal along gulf beaches. That is no consolation to those people who lost homes and businesses after BP's oil covered the local economy with sludge.

See key dates since the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion on April 20, 2010 here .

View photos of the oil spill's effect on wildlife here .

See photos of the clean-up efforts here .