[StBernard] St. Bernard Parish President Craig Taffaro, Jr. is urging the public to contact their federal delegates to push the approval of the Barrier Island Plan

[Westley Annis]

St. Bernard Parish President Craig Taffaro, Jr. is urging the public to
contact their federal delegates to push the approval of the Barrier Island
Plan

 

St. Bernard Parish President Craig Taffaro, Jr. encouraged the public to
contact their federal delegation to push for the quick approval of the
Barrier Island Plan proposed by Gov. Jindal last week.

"Keep pressing the federal delegation," Taffaro said in a radio interview
this morning with Bob DelGiorno of WWL Radio New Orleans. "If anybody has
friends or relatives outside of Louisiana tell them to call their delegates
to push for the approval of the barrier island plan."

Gov. Jindal's plan he discussed last week with local parish leaders is to
create sand barriers or berms to protect marshes from the oil spill. Using
sand in the Gulf of Mexico to produce protective berms ultimately would act
as a barrier to assist in the oil containment and removal process. 

The state has been coordinating with proper federal officials to get
approval for such a large scale operation that Jindal said is consistent
with Louisiana's long-term coastal restoration plan. Officials are hoping
for a quick approval so work can begin immediately to implement the plan.
President Taffaro said he is concerned about underwater plumes of oil
because placing booms is not an effective way to stop the damage caused by
oil that is under water. Tar balls have been discovered in areas where there
is no sheen or oil visible.

"We have some cleanup activities going on in Brush Island at northern part
of the Biloxi marsh area," Taffaro said about today's efforts. "We have
cleanup ongoing at the Chandeleur Islands, and we are tracking a rather
large edge and some large break off pieces (of oil) about a mile from the
Chandeleurs and we're hoping that we can continue skimming operations that
will eat that oil up as much as possible. We have had some oil show up on
Freemason Island. It continues to add to our concern that we may not be
seeing everything headed for us until it shows up there." 

"We have deployed a crew of our fishing boats to actually do some dragging
to see what they're picking up. Fortunately they haven't picked up a lot of
tar balls. They are starting to see some 'dead zones,' where there should be
fish/starfish activity. Those fishermen know what is routine and what is
not. We're trying to get them out there to do some type of assessment so we
can measure little signs like that," Taffaro said.

"Some of our fishermen say they are watching the flying pattern of some of
the birds and they aren't flying out. They're flying in. They know what the
routine is, so whether that means something or not, we're going to figure
that out."

 "We are depending on DEQ and DHH to keep a very close eye on this. We want
to make sure we are clear on what the dispersant effects are on some of
these fisheries, especially oysters, so we know everything going on out
there is positive and productive and the good name of Louisiana seafood is
not compromised."

Taffaro said that during this crisis, the affected parish presidents and
other local officials have been regularly communicating. 

"We talk throughout the course of the week and have a parish president
conference call once a week. Not only are the parish presidents and mayors
getting together, we are connecting all the dots and have making sure we are
verifying the info parish to parish," Taffaro said. 

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