Gov. Bobby Jindal sees coastal defense plan in Venice, acknowledges Gulf oil spill could go west of river

May 05, 2010, 1:43PM

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal was in Venice this morning to oversee deployment of loads of absorbent booms that will be placed in the Mississippi River delta to protect fragile inland marsh areas from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

The governor also acknowledge forecasts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that for the first time show the possibility of oil moving west of the Mississippi River.

Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser said he has had a report this morning of oil near the Chandeleur Islands and got word from a river pilot that thick oil could be seen seven miles out from Southwest Pass, the main shipping channel of the river.

"In the case that oil does get west of the river, obviously that would pose even greater challenges to protecting our coast," Jindal said. "You're looking at the possibility of it eventually going into areas of Barataria Basin and other areas that would require multiple lines of defense."

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The Plaquemines Parish protection plan is designed to be a second line of defense behind the hard booms placed out in offshore waters. A large jack-up barge arrived from Port Fourchon last night, and was deployed from Venice this afternoon to be a supply post for fishing boats and other crews to deploy the soft, white absorbent boom when oil gets closer to shore.

"It needs to be mobile, it needs to be flexible, it needs to be adaptable," Jindal said.

Nungesser and his staff have divided up the parish into 13 separate zones for booms to be deployed, depending on the trajectory of the oil spill. There is one jack-up barge available to stage the absorbent boom at this point, but Nungesser said there are another seven barges on call.

"We're drawing our line in the sand, and we're going to draw it right where the marsh begins," Nungesser said. "There is no cleanup in Plaquemines Parish. Prevention is the only way to do this, and that's for all of coastal Louisiana."