USACE rejects barrier plan

[CloudStrife]

http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/97828804.html

Oil sheen and tar balls made their way through the Rigolets and into Lake Pontchartrain on Monday morning, the U.S. Coast Guard reported.

The oil was discovered early Monday and 19 skimmers and four decontamination vessels were sent to the Rigolets and the lake to clean up the oil.

Response crews also placed hard and soft boom at a natural choke point in the Rigolets to prevent more oil from getting through to Lake Pontchartrain, according to a news release issued at 8:15 p.m. Monday.

Cleanup crews collected 1,020 pounds of tar balls and waste, the release stated.

“Collected oil is being tested to determine if the oil came from the Deepwater Horizon wellhead,” the release says.

In other oil news Monday, state and local officials expressed dismay over the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ weekend decision to reject a plan to build rock dikes to help keep oil out of Barataria Bay.

“Only a government bureaucrat would say rocks are more harmful to our water than oil,” Gov. Bobby Jindal said.

In the meantime, Col. Al Lee, commander of the Corps’ New Orleans District, issued a statement Saturday announcing that after weeks of review, he was denying a permit request to build rock dikes in Barataria Bay passes.

Jefferson Parish requested the emergency permits June 7 saying it wanted to build rock dikes in five passes leading into Barataria Bay. Later, the parish amended the request to only build two dikes in Pass Abel and Four Bayou Pass.

“The Corps took weeks to review the plan only to reject it today and this denial is another unfortunate example of the federal government’s lack of urgency in this war to protect our coast,” Jindal said.

Barataria Bay is one of the richest estuaries in the state for fishing and wildlife, Jindal has said. It is also an area that has been oiled repeatedly from the BP oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico that began after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded April 20, killing 11 workers.

Grand Isle Mayor David Camardelle said Monday he was devastated when he found out Saturday that the rock plan permits were rejected.

“One of the things that really gets me is they didn’t offer us an alternative plan and they didn’t offer us a plan of their own,” Camardelle said. “They just said, ‘No.’ ”

Kyle Plotkin, press secretary for the governor, said the Corps’ decision is not the end of the matter.

“The governor will absolutely keep fighting for the rock plan and other important defense efforts against the oil that continues to attack our coast,” he said in an e-mail Monday.

Jefferson Parish Alderman Chris Roberts said a conference call was planned for Monday between state and local officials and Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell “to find out what next step we might take.”

Plotkin said that the state had provided a series of alternatives to the Corps on ways to keep oil out of Barataria Bay, including using high sea boom, skimmers, dredging and the barges and rock plan.

“Yet there were no defense measures in place there last week as oil poured into the bay,” Plotkin said.

The dike plan calls for placing barges in the passes to help keep the oil out. However, Camardelle said that when the weather is bad, the barges have to be moved.

Lee said the Corps did not approve the permit request because it feared the dikes would adversely affect the flow of water in the passes and in the bay, particularly by increasing the flow “at the constricted passes” as well as increasing tidal retention.

“Such effects will redirect water movement to other passes and result in the establishment of new avenues for tidal flow, especially during tropical storm events,” Lee said.

In the end, Lee said, the dikes could cause channels to expand and more land to erode.

Plotkin said that the governor and local leaders had said the rock dikes would be removed once the oil threat passed or the dikes could be modified.

But that was one of the worries expressed by two federal agencies who opposed the plan: the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The two agencies said they were concerned that nothing would be done to fix any damages that might be caused by the rock dikes and they feared the dikes would not be removed when the oil threat ended.

John Ettinger of the EPA said the agency had ongoing concerns about the “severe potential” for adverse impacts on the environment from the dikes.

He urged the Corps in a July 1 e-mail to undertake “further review and discussion on the project with a broader group of scientists and engineers.”

“EPA considers a decision to issue this permit in light of these concerns to be solely a Corps decision and a Corps decision alone,” Ettinger said.

As recently as Wednesday, the Corps indicated during a telephone conference call with federal agencies that it planned to approve the permits, according to a memo issued by NOAA.

The Corps said it was basing its decision on commitments provided by representatives of the applicant and the U.S. Coast Guard and the Unified Command Center, which manages the federal response to the leak.

“I have no idea why the Corps suddenly changed their minds,” Camardelle said.

The mayor said he’s frustrated with the agencies and groups who opposed the dike plan.

“You have NOAA, EPA and all of these coalitions that popped up overnight after this oil spill and all of them are against it,” he said. “But not one of them came up with a plan of their own on how to save us.”

About 40 barges are sitting in Barataria Bay loaded with rocks that BP purchased for the project.

“BP jumped on board right away,” Camardelle said. “They spent $16 million on the rocks.”

Now, though, BP has given Camardelle and the parish only a few more days to figure out how to make the project work or the oil company is going to move the rocks out.

“I’m nervous every time the phone rings,” he said.

Camardelle said he took the Corps’ decision “really hard.”

“I’m really hurt inside. I think they’re going to kill our community,” Camardelle said. “But I’m not giving up.”

With the rocks already purchased, Camardelle said, building the dikes would cost about $25 million.

“I say, let’s go. If we can come up with the money, let’s bypass the federal government. Let’s protect our people.”

 

[Yrdawg]

“The Corps took weeks to review the plan only to reject it today and this denial is another unfortunate example of the federal government’s lack of urgency in this war to protect our coast,” Jindal said.


No jeanus they are attacking.if you wanna be Gov next month you better hop uo on a tail gate and do some of your best Gen Honere imitations

Grow a set Bobby......I like you but you are gettin loose and about to hit the wall

 

[CloudStrife]

BP jumped on board right away,” Camardelle said. “They spent $16 million on the rocks.

With the rocks already purchased, Camardelle said, building the dikes would cost about $25 million.

“I say, let’s go. If we can come up with the money, let’s bypass the federal government. Let’s protect our people.”

We should do this. We should be dealing with BP directly. To hell with the feds. Is there any other penalty besides a loss of federal funds, which we aren't getting anyway?