Corps approves sand barriers; T’bonne left out

Adm. Thad Allen, a high-ranking official with the U.S. Coast Guard, approved a plan Thursday that will allow state leaders to move forward with a $350 million sand-barrier project.

The 45-mile stretch of berms will be built near the northern tip of the Chandeleur Islands, west of the Mississippi River, and to the east of Barataria Bay, near Scofield Island.

The structures are considered by many to be a last resort to keep oil from the Gulf of Mexico from entering Louisiana’s most ecologically-sensitive areas. In a rare showing, the Army Corps of Engineers approved about half of the state’s original plan last week without conducting an environmental impact study.

State leaders, in final drafts of the sand barrier plan, called for nearly 86 miles of berms covering areas further west of the Mississippi. The Coast Guard, however, has only given a thumbs up to about 45 miles, leaving some area coastlines to fend for themselves.

“Here, the president doesn’t seem to have a clue. His decision on the emergency dredging barrier island plan is a thinly veiled ‘no.’ Approving two percent of the request and kicking the rest months down the road is outrageous, absolutely outrageous,” touted Sen. David Vitter in a release.

Officials have indicated that BP will pay for the first six-foot sand barrier to be built near Scofield Island. If the Corps deems it a success, the oil company has said it will pay for the other five.

Terrebonne Parish President Michel Claudet said there has been no word as to whether a more extensive system – one that could protect coastal parishes further west – will be approved.

For now, response efforts have fallen heavily on parishes directly impacted by oil, mostly to the east. “All the emphasis, as far as stepping up the response and [building the sand booms], was on that area,” Claudet noted.

State Rep. Gordon Dove said that he was happy to see a portion of the project moving forward, despite the need for more action. He said the Corps’ actions were miraculous.

For years, state and local leaders have been forced to battle the group for a timely response on projects that required an environmental impact study. For the Corps to approve a project of large scale without one is unheard of, explained Dove.” How often do they approve something like that? Never,” he said.

The barriers have also been long touted as a measure to stop coastal erosion. But the Corps has been slow to approve any such plans before now.

It is still unclear where sand for the project will come from.