[StBernard] Barrier island plan gets partial approval

[Westley Annis]

Barrier island plan gets partial approval 

by Paul Murphy / Eyewitness News

wwltv.com

Posted on May 27, 2010 at 12:09 PM

Updated yesterday at 6:16 PM 


BELLE CHASSE, La. -- Louisiana leaders have been waiting for weeks for
federal permits to build their so-called "coastal plan."

The $350 million proposal calls for an 86-mile long network of new and
improved barrier islands to help keep oil out of fragile coastal wetlands.

Thursday, Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen announced the state now has the
go-ahead for about half of the projects.

"I have said as the national incident commander, we need to understand if
this is an effective oil spill response strategy to build barrier islands
and berms," Allen told reporters in Venice. "There's not been universal
agreement on that."

Admiral Allen said dredges will immediately begin one small section of the
project to judge the plan's viability.

Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser, one of the architects of the
coastal plan, said he hopes the Coast Guard and Army Corps of Engineers
quickly approves the remaining projects.

"What do we need to get you to approve the rest of it, because if you're
going to build 10 miles of levee and you approve five miles, it ain't no
good to the other five miles are built," said Nungesser.

Nungesser received permission from the parish council to use $1 million from
an emergency fund to start work on sand barriers yet to receive federal
approval.

He is most concerned about projects south of Buras and in Breton Sound.

"We're still hoping that the federal government and BP steps up to the major
dredge plan," said Nungesser. "This is some interim stuff that we need to do
immediately, in areas that are most sensitive."

Nungesser said the parish would ultimately get BP to pay for the work.

With oil now reaching the Myrtle Grove area, 10 miles inland from the coast,
council members agree now is the time to act.

"Either we're going to act or we're not," said Councilman Burghart Turner.
"Let's not use BP as an excuse if we're going to move forward and act."

"The bureaucracy moves slow, but the oil is moving fast," said Councilman
Stuart Guey. "What we're doing is trying to keep up with that fast moving
oil."

Plaquemines leaders plan to personally submit their plan to President Barack
Obama when he visits the Louisiana coast Friday afternoon.