[StBernard] Gov. Jindal Statement

[Westley Annis]

Governor Bobby Jindal released the following statement today regarding his
meeting with President Obama and elected officials in New Orleans,
concerning the response efforts to the ongoing BP oil spill:

"I am glad the president came today. Every time he comes to Louisiana the
pace of the response efforts quickens and things get done. Shortly before
his first visit during this spill, Admiral Allen was named as Incident
Commander. Before his visit last week, the Coast Guard called for BP to pay
for one of the segments in our sand boom plan and before his visit this
week, the Coast Guard called on BP to pay for the construction of all six
segments approved by the Corps - although BP still hasn't given the state a
dime to pay for the work.

"Just as we said yesterday, we told the President we are moving ahead
without BP. We already signed contracts to begin this work with Shaw and
Bean Dredging. We put in a request to the Army Corps of Engineers this
morning to release their available dredges and they have indentified four
dredges - including one located close to the site that is most likely to be
available - the MV CALIFORNIA. I met with the CEO of Shaw today and they
said that if the US Army Corps of Engineers will allow them to borrow sand
closer to the dredging sites, which we will replace, we could see sand by
Monday.

"We are moving forward with or without BP. We gave them two choices - they
can either send us a check, get out of the way and let us start this work,
or they can sign a contract and do it themselves. We are going ahead without
them. Last night, we met with Admiral Allen and he said he feels like he is
making progress in getting BP to actually pay for this work. To date, BP has
done a great job in sending us press releases and attorneys, but they
haven't sent us any money to dredge."

Governor Jindal also stressed the need to ensure BP is paying claims to
Louisiana residents in a timely and responsible fashion. The Governor said,
"The Department of Social Services and the Workforce Commission have made
repeated requests to review BP's claims process and data, but BP still has
not shared their full claims data for individuals and businesses. We are
concerned about reports from citizens and parish officials that many people
have not been paid by BP. According to information from BP, more than half
of the claims for lost income have not even been processed and less than 25
percent of business interruption claims have been paid. In fact, the
Attorney General's Office filed a petition for discovery and investigation
in state court today to order BP to produce information that the state needs
to monitor their claims processes.

"Our people deserve to be fully compensated for their losses. Instead of BP
shelling out $50 million on an ad campaign that promises to do good work in
responding to this spill, BP should just focus on actually doing a good job
and spend the $50 million on assistance to our people, our industries and
our communities that are suffering as a result of this ongoing spill."

While meeting with the President today, Governor Jindal also stressed his
serious concerns about the President's recent suspension of deepwater
drilling activity. Governor Jindal said, "I shared my concerns about the
President's six-month suspension of activity at 33 permitted deepwater
drilling rigs, including 22 deepwater drilling rigs off Louisiana's coast.
Our Department of Economic Development estimates that the active drilling
suspension alone will result in a loss of 3,000 to 6,000 Louisiana jobs in
the next two to three weeks and potentially over 10,000 Louisiana jobs
within a few months. We risk losing more than 20,000 existing and potential
new Louisiana jobs over 12 to 18 months, if this federal panel takes longer
than six months to do their reviews and write their reports.

"We absolutely want drilling to be done safely, but it shouldn't take months
of federal government committees and meetings. We need effective oversight
of this industry. The federal government needs to do their job quickly so
that thousands of Louisianians don't lose their jobs."

During the meeting with the President, the Governor also stressed the
importance of the Coast Guard approving the use of rocks and barges to block
oil from entering into the Barataria Bay.  This proposal will protect Grand
Isle, Lafitte, and hundreds of thousands of acres of prime fishing grounds
in Jefferson and Plaquemines Parishes from oil pollution. The Governor said,
"Mayor Carmardelle has been working on the development of a plan to close
the passes to the east and west of Grand Isle. This plan will use rocks and
barges to narrow the passes and establish active sorbent and vacuum
operations from barges closing the remaining gaps. The barges would be
anchored down and then chained together to provide for a contiguous barrier
across the passes to prevent more oil from getting into Barataria Bay, and
facilitate the removal of oil."