Update on Oil Spill from The Frontlines

The oil here is now coating Grand Isle and coating areas of Plaquemines and St. Bernard. They are talking about burning the marsh, which is a natural thing that occurs and that might clean the marsh without destroying it. It will also get rid of the oil.

The sad thing is that there is oil on the beach at Grand Isle and the Sheriff called wwl today and reported thet NO ONE is out cleaning it up. No Coast Guard, No BP, No National Guard…but they have the beach blocked off, so citizens can not clean it up either.

People where I live are now getting mad and really upset. People are realizing that a month into this, that the national media is slowing down attention, so they (BP, Coast Guard, Army Corps of Eng) are getting lazy.

I was called by National Fish and Wildlife today and they want me to go sit on a dock in Cocodrie for 8 hours tomorrow. I told them NO! If they need me to go get a bird, help stabilize a bird, help with cleaning a bird….fine, but they have people from all over the US that are at the command station 5 miles from me. They are getting paid. The have National Guard, US Fish and Wildlife agents at the dock and in boats. I want to help and I don’t need to be paid, but I will be damned if they are going to get me to sit in 90 degree weather in nats and mosquitos for 8 hours while they are sitting on their butts in an air conditioned command center and getting paid.

I think the whole BP being in charge of everything is not working too well…the bureaucracy is starting to resemble our federal government!!! God help us! Please pray for us.

The Parish President in Plaquemines said he is going to build berm levees to prevent oil from getting into the marsh. Even if the Federal Government arrests him.

Here is what he said on the radio..

Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser says Coast Guard Commandant Thad Allen had turned thumbs down on the parish’s portion of a state plan to erect sand berms along barrier islands and wetlands to capture oil from the Deepwater Horizon well accident.

Nungesser was not pleased with that decision when he talked with WWL First News Saturday morning.

“They ought to all lose their jobs, because none of them gives a rat’s ass about this marsh,” said Nungesser. “Something stinks here. It was too good of a plan. Everybody was on board and all they did was take four or five days to rip it apart. And, I’m sorry Coast Guard, you got B.S. excuses. There was nothing you told me that’s a reason we don’t have dredges out there pumping today.”

Coast Guard Rear Admiral Mary said the Coast Guard has made no decision on the larger plan, backed by Governor Jindal, to erect the sand barriers.

Instead, she said, the call was aimed at objecting to Nungesser’s plan to immediately move resources being used by the Louisiana National Guard on Grand Isle to start building a barrier elsewhere.

“What we talked to President Nungesser about is maybe we should do a little more work in those smaller scale projects that are proving successful…because you’re constantly evaluating the best way to respond to the spill,” said Landry.

She said the state plan is still under environmental review and no final decision is made. “They are working to evaluate the barrier island proposal and there has not been a decision made on that yet.”

“This is an extensive proposal and has to be evaluated thoroughly for the potential environmental impact and any unintended consequences it might have and whether or not it’s really a pollution response mitigation measure,” Landry said.

It’s been about three weeks since Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal asked the federal government to approve the plan to build sand barriers along the coast to block approaching oil.

The man in charge of the federal response says they are still looking at the application for an emergency permit
“What we are trying to do now, we’re pretty much in a fact gathering mode regarding the proposal – clarifying that with the Corps of Engineers and the state of Louisiana. Those discussions are ongoing right now,” Coast Guard Commandant Thad Allen said.

Allen says he is already mapping plans to implement the operation if and when any elements of it are approved.

“We are fully engaged with both the state and the Corps of Engineers right now,” he said.

He explained there were outstanding questions about coordianting the proposed project with the efforts to fight the spill.
“It has to do with how you would deal with oil coming ashore during construction and thing like that,” Allen said..
Here are some links to some local news stories….

http://www.wwl.com Radio media

http://www.wwltv.com/ TV media

http://www.houmatoday.com/ Newspaper media

GRAND ISLE, La. – Jefferson Parish Emergency managers say they have commandeered all of BP’s hired boats in Grand Isle.

A representative for Jefferson Parish Emergency chief Deano Bonano said they requested immediate action after oil moved into the marsh passes and onto the beaches in Grand Isle.

He said more than 40 boats were sitting idle while he watched the oil rush into the passes.

At around 5:30 p.m., Jefferson Councilman Chris Roberts confirmed the boats have been commandeered by JP emergency managers

At this point you are going to see Cajuns taking matters into their own hands….we may end up succeeding from the Union if this gets worse….

Here are pictures..

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Awesome, the more people who know, the better. That is why I posted the media links and the pictures.

Please call your congresspeople and senators and tell them you want them to make sure this gets taken care of….send them the pictures, they are in my photobucket under keschete / oil

http://s185.photobucket.com/albums/x150/keschete/Oil/

Compaining to elected officials doesn’t cost anything and it may help us down here if they know that people in other states are upset. I will post more pictures when I get them.

Thank you all for your support!!!

Here is a Pelican that is oiled. This was taken on one of the nesting grounds that is a Pelican rookery.