[StBernard] Nungesser Calls State Rep 'An Embarrassment'

[Westley Annis]

Nungesser Calls State Rep 'An Embarrassment'
Plaquemines Parish President Criticizes Rep. Neil Abramson
WDSU.com
updated 5:15 p.m. CT, Mon., June 7, 2010
NEW ORLEANS - WDSU .com

Two local officials are having a war of words about whether the sand berms
being built off the Louisiana coast are necessary to stop oil from coming
ashore.

On Monday, Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser criticized state
Rep. Neil Abramson, D-New Orleans, for comments he made in a news report.

Abramson was quoted as saying, "I can tell you, from what we saw today, it
didn't look like berms were necessary, because it wasn't a whole lot of oil
out there that we saw, and they were taking the necessary measures to clean
it up."

Nungesser, who has been vocal about his support for the berm plan, called
Abramson "an embarrassment to the state of Louisiana."

"Maybe Neil Abramson should go to work with Tony Hayward of BP with stupid
comments like that," Nungesser said in a statement. "If Rep. Abramson would
like to come down to Plaquemines Parish and hold one of the dead pelicans,
suffering turtles or dead dolphins that we have on our shoreline, maybe he'd
have a different opinion."

Abramson responded by issuing a statement of his own on Monday afternoon. He
said his full comments were not reported, saying he also said, "But I
believe the situation is a whole lot worse, so we need to get to the bottom
of that and what we need to do in response."

Abramson said his comments were questioning the truth of what he saw in a
Coast Guard flyover of oil-affected areas.

"I have been a vocal advocate for our parishes in their cleanup efforts," he
said. "I pushed to amend our budget to include $198 million from our Rainy
Day fund to give our parishes the necessary resources immediately to assist
with the cleanup. We could then reclaim that money later from the
responsible parties. I look forward to meeting with Mr. Nungesser and to
working together on this tragic event which impacts our state."