[StBernard] St. Bernard Parish President meets with Incident Commander Thad Allen

Westley Annis Westley at da-parish.com
Fri Aug 13 22:49:54 EDT 2010


St. Bernard Parish President meets with Incident Commander Thad Allen

St. Bernard Parish President Craig Taffaro, Branch Coast Guard Liaison
Officer Commander Masters and Branch Technical Advisor Captain Perry
attended a meeting called by Incident Commander Thad Allen at the Incident
Command Post in Houma this morning. All affected parish presidents and
mayors were on hand for the meeting, along with the Federal On-Scene
Coordinator Admiral Zukunft.

The focus of the meeting was to address the ongoing concerns of the
municipalities and to bridge a real cooperative effort between the parishes,
BP and the Coast Guard. The transition plan was discussed, as well as a
pretty direct discussion regarding operations of the branches, management of
assets and communication at all levels.

The transition plan that was developed by the Coast Guard was responded to
at the meeting by the parishes. This plan will go through a revision which
will be completed at the parish level in coordination with the Incident
command Post. The deadline to complete these revisions and have a finalized
plan is 7 days. No assets will be removed from the branches and no
operational activities will be stood down during that time period, while
this plan is being completed.

One of the activities identified as needing to be included in the transition
plan was a comprehensive testing protocol. The Coast Guard admitted that
there was a greater need for subsurface oil monitoring. As a result, Admiral
Allen signed a directive today to consolidate subsurface oil monitoring
protocols in an effort to include the comprehensive picture. He committed to
working these issues in partnership with the state and local parishes. He
fell short of saying he could delegate federal mandated responsibility of
the Coast Guard per OPA 90.

It was announced that Ken Feinberg, the Administrator of the $20 billion
escrow account established by BP, will release his plan as to how the fund
will be administered on August 23rd. This fund will be used to pay claims to
Gulf Coast residents and communities who have suffered economic damages and
losses as a result of the BP oil disaster. The current BP Claims process and
existing claims will switch over to this new fund administered by Feinberg.

Admiral Allen announced that he will transition his authority to the Federal
On-Scene Coordinator Admiral Zunkunft, dependant on the release of the
Secretary Mabus report and as the well is fully sealed and not a threat.

"It was an overall positive direction," St. Bernard Parish President Craig
Taffaro said after the meeting with Allen. "We are anxious to iron out the
details so that support of the mission is identified in practical terms with
the partnership between BP, the parish, state, Coast Guard and BP."





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