State approves dredging; state can build sand berms to stop oil

 Louisiana won another incremental battle in the oil war to save its Gulf Coast Friday.

Gov. Bobby Jindal announced on the grounds of a restored Civil War fort in lower Plaquemines Parish that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers approved construction of sand berms to protect barrier islands from oil released after the BP rig explosion in April.

The cutterhead dredging vessel California anchored near the mouth of the Mississippi River is the first dredge scheduled to begin pumping over the weekend, after it completes island and wildlife surveys at the dredging site in the northern Chandelier Islands.

The half dozen sand berrm sections to be built at selected barrier islands can proceed now that the corps has approved Louisiana’s monitoring report of the project.

“We’ve go six dredges under contract,” Jindal said. Those vessels will eventually be moved to Pelican and Scofield islands and be involved in berm construction, the governor said.

While Jindal spoke at a news conference, accompanied by Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser and LSU football coach Les Miles, eight Blackhawk and Chinook helicopters flew overhead, continuing the process of picking up and transporting 2,000 pound sandbags to Pelican and Scofield islands.

The airdrop program is designed to compliment the upcoming dredging work by filling gaps in the barrier islands. Over 14 million pounds of bagged sand has been dropped on those two island, Jindal said.

“We’re in a battle, we’re in a war to keep this oil out of wetlands, off our coast,” the governor said. “We going to do everything we can to keep this oil out of our marshes so it doesn’t do even more damage.”