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As more time passes since the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, Lafourche Parish, with the help of BP contractors, continues to work feverously to keep oil out of the wetlands.
With the five cuts in the eastern beaches between Fourchon and Grand Isle still blocked off to oil intrusion by rip rap and vinyl sheet pilings, Lafourche Parish Public Information Officer Brennan Matherne said clean up efforts on the beachfronts near Bayou Thunder have slowed down in recent days.
“There’s a couple of the cuts that have become almost impassable due to high water and soft ground,” said Matherne. “We’re expecting to get a couple of bridges in place to go over these cuts. While waiting on that, it’s tough to get to some of these areas to clean or even see what we’re dealing with.”
Matherne said the bridges should be completed this week, and cleaning those areas will commence as soon as possible.
With 793 BP contracted cleanup employees working in Lafourche Parish and 275 on Fourchon Beach at press time, Matherne said most of the beach looks almost as good as new with only reports of light tar balls hitting Fourchon Beach in the past week.
“The beach is stabilized. They’re doing a good job of maintaining the boom there so that’s just a situation where as oil comes ashore they clean it up,” said Matherne. “They make sure it’s laying out properly and not being buried.”
As for the west side of the parish, Matherne said all reports of oil in Timbalier Bay and Lake Raccourci have been contained.
“They’ve had a lot of skimming vessels picking up, and they’ve had a lot of sorbent boom collect it, so it’s working really well,” said Matherne
He added the lack of oil impeding into the western waters has allowed vessels to concentrate their efforts on laying boom rather than skimming oil – allowing a quarter of a million feet of boom to be laid.
“By Wednesday, we should have most of the beach as far as all the way up through Lake Raccourci boomed off,” said Matherne on Monday. “That’s almost definite.”
But with all Lafourche Parish waters closed off to fishing, many local fishermen are still losing income.
That’s why Lafourche Parish encourages all residents in need to apply for emergency services including utility assistance, food vouchers, medication and rental or mortgage assistance.
In order to apply for any of these programs, residents must provide a valid driver’s license, Social Security Card for every member of the household, proof of income for every member of the household and all bills from the past months and receipts showing they were paid.
For more information on any of these programs, residents may contact Jennifer Babin or Erica Adams at the Mathews Government Complex at (985) 537-7603.
BP contracted workers on Fourchon Beach hold up snare boom so they can dig a trench underneath where it lies. These workers must examine every inch of the boom along the edge of the beach daily to keep the area in working condition. * Photo by RICHARD FISCHER
