La. guard to track skimmer deployment

Gov. Bobby Jindal says Louisiana National Guard troops will monitor the dispatching of skimmers to deal with the Gulf oil spill.

Expressing frustration with a lack of information from the Coast Guard on how many skimmers are working at a given time, Jindal said about 20 troops will be assigned to assemble data daily and report to the state. It was unclear how they would obtain the data.

Jindal and coastal leaders have been complaining about long periods when it has appeared not all available skimmers were working to clean up oil – and a lack of up-to-date information from the Coast Guard.