[StBernard] St. Bernard Parish officials update action plan at 6 p.m.

[Westley Annis]

Saturday, May 01, 2010 at 6:00 p.m.

 

St. Bernard Parish officials update action plan

Training for first phase of local fishermen complete; deploying of
protective booms continues;

Top EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson comes to Chalmette and clears
bureaucratic hurdles 

 

St.  Bernard Parish officials announced Saturday that training of the
initial group of fishermen to deploy protective booms is complete. The
fishermen are now prepared to take measures to protect St. Bernard's
coastline from the drifting oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico from the
Deepwater Horizon, an oil rig operated by British Petroleum that was
drilling in 5,000 feet of water about 40 miles offshore when it exploded
last week. Additional resources are in route to St. Bernard as well.

 

Key bureaucratic hurdles were cleared today after Lisa P. Jackson, the
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator sent to Louisiana by President
Obama and Congressman Charlie Melancon met with St. Bernard Parish officials
in Chalmette.

 

St. Bernard Parish officials explained to Ms. Jackson and Congressman
Melancon that some of the bureaucratic issues of OSHA were slowing down the
parish's ability to respond on a local level. Ms. Jackson immediately
addressed the issues, clearing the way for St. Bernard to deploy local
resources to help deal with the recovery.

 

"She immediately began working BP to reduce the bureaucratic red tape that
was slowing our ability to respond," said Col. David Dysart, St. Bernard
Director of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness.

 

Additionally, St. Bernard had representatives in Houma at the BP Command
Center working with federal and state officials to enhance the boom plan for
St. Bernard Parish and to ensure the necessary logistical resources were in
place to support that plan.

 

More protective boom was deployed in St. Bernard waters on Saturday. The
local fishermen who are now trained have their vessels loaded in preparation
of operations that will be deployed tomorrow. 

 

An initial phase of fishermen who had signed up with St. Bernard Parish to
volunteer their boats received phone calls late Friday night inviting them
for the Saturday morning training. This first phase of fishermen will allow
them to work alongside BP contractors to place protective measures in St.
Bernard as part of BP's Vessel of Opportunity Program.

 

More training of fishermen is expected to take place early this week.
Fishermen will be contacted for additional training and additional phases of
the effort. 

 

Commercial fishermen who are St. Bernard residents and who can assist in any
local efforts to protect our coastline in St. Bernard can continue sign up
with St. Bernard Parish Government at the website www.sbpg.net at the
Contact Us button on top of the web site. 

 

Additionally, commercial fishermen may contact the St. Bernard Office of
Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness during normal business hours
Monday through Friday at 278-4268. 

 

Please include the following information: Vessel name, Owner/Captain name,
Contact Number or Email if available, Length of Vessel, Horse Power and
Draft.

 

St. Bernard Parish will send this volunteer list to British Petroleum for
the Vessel of Opportunity program which may hire locals to help with the
spill. Additionally, it will be kept for St. Bernard Parish for any
secondary response efforts.

If you have difficulty sending through the website, you may send the
information to kbazile at sbpg.net. 

 

Meanwhile, St. Bernard officials continue to stress that the drinking water
supply is safe because the parish's only intake is far inland on the
Mississippi River. Furthermore, state regulators have assured parish
officials that smells should not be harmful. Persons with special
respiratory conditions should be mindful of the odors. President Taffaro
asked residents to report odors to the St. Bernard Office Homeland Security
and Emergency Preparedness at 504-278-4268. When calling, please be specific
about the time and location of the odor.

 

Current projections show that the oil should reach the Chandeleur Islands
and the outer edges of the Biloxi Marsh by Sunday. Based on those
projections and the continued cooperation with the Coast Guard and BP, St.
Bernard enjoyed the benefits of this increased cooperation and BP laid down
some booms today in St. Bernard waters. However, efforts on Friday were
stymied by tidal and weather conditions which make booming in some areas
ineffective.

 

The long term goal is that over several days workers will continue to place
multiple layers of both hard booms, which are meant to contain the oil, and
absorbent booms, which are meant to absorb the oil.

 

Please monitor the news for additional information. Updates also will be
posted on the parish website at www.sbpg.net.

 

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