Lafourche officials say drinking water’s safe

Lafourche Parish Water District General Manager Dirk Barrios assured residents parish drinking water is still safe at last week’s parish council meeting.

“We do not have oil in the water – no issues with it right now,” said Barrios.

He said the southernmost plantation is 50 miles from the bayou’s mouth and 12 miles from the Intracoastal Canal.

“That gives us a big buffer where oil has to come up that distance to get into our intake,” said Barrios.

As a precautionary measure, Barrios said both hard and soft boom have been placed in front of the parish’s intakes.

Oil could potentially enter the intakes from Bayou Lafourche, the Intracoastal Canal and the Company Canal by way of the Intracoastal Canal through the Houma Navigation Canal.

“The Company Canal entrance has a salt water barrier. Should we see some type of encroach of oil on that area, we can close the salt water barrier,” he said. “In Bayou Lafourche, we don’t have that, but [the Coast Guard has] made plans that should it start creeping up the bayou, they will do whatever it takes to control that issue through skimming.”

Additionally, Barrios said the parish would likely close the Golden Meadow and Larose floodgates, keeping oil out.

Although the Water District is working on acquiring oil-monitoring equipment, chloride monitors are currently measuring the salinity in Lockport and Larose.

“The oil spill is in a salt water environment, so if we would see some type of increase in salinity, it would give up some kind of indication we should start looking for increase of levels of oil in there,” said Barrios.

Barrios said these monitors are checked daily, and nothing has raised a red flag yet.

However, the general manager did not rule out increased levels of salinity and oil resulting from strong storm surge.

“If a hurricane occurs some type of real big storm surge takes place, it is a possibility, how remote it may be, so we have to be proactive and address it,” said Barrios.

Officials: Air clean – no need for additional air monitors

At the previous council meeting June 23, the council passed a resolution requesting BP to buy 12 air monitors for Lafourche Parish.

However, Parish President Charlotte Randolph would like the council to reconsider, because the monitors could incur cost to the parish unnecessarily.

“They require constant attention. You can’t just put them out there and check them every few days,” she said. “The filters in them are that sensitive that you have to have someone continuously monitoring them, and having 12 of them scattered through the parish would require maintenance of each one for the monitors.”

With two air monitors in Grand Isle and one in Port Fourchon, the parish president and Environmental Protection Agency Coordinator Todd Campbell feel the current status of the air does not require additional monitors.

“The data EPA has collected probably does not warrant you getting 12 stations, because we’re not getting a lot of readings of concern,” said Campbell.

He admitted a couple of readings on the air quality index have exceeded the “good” level and have gone into the lower regions of the “moderate” level.

“Typically, we believe they’ve been explained because of dry conditions and windy conditions where the sand and the dust came up off the roadways and the beaches, and we’re picking that up as particulates,” said Campbell.

Additionally, Campbell said a very small amount of benzene, a toxic particle associated with oil, has been detected in the air.

“The levels have always been below our action levels,” said Campbell. “We have a volatile monitor. Whenever that level hits the action level, our sampling crew will pull [suspected] benzene at the scene to confirm whether or not that reading is contributable to benzene or not.”

The resolution requesting BP to provide the parish 12 air monitors remains intact from the pervious meeting.

Lafourche BP Oil Spill Committee on hold for now

The Lafourche Parish Council nixed a resolution that would have created a BP Oil Spill Committee.

The three-person committee proposed by chairman Daniel Lorraine would have comprised of Lorraine, Lindel Toups and Joe Fertitta, and they would have been charged with reviewing any information related to the oil spill, in particular the Vessels of Opportunity program.

The resolution failed 4-1-2-2 with a nay from Matt Matherne, abstentions from Jerry Jones and Phillip Gouaux and absences from Toups and Fertitta.

The Committee was to hold outreach meetings for local fishermen on the first and third Monday of every month.

“We want to organize the fishermen better and have better dialogue with fishermen. There will be BP officials here when we meet,” said Lorraine. “Everything we do at the committee will be taped, minutes will be taken and presented to the council.”

Even though the committee would have had no power and the meetings would have been public, Matherne feels all nine councilmen should be involved.

“We’re a nine-member council, and we have time for [citizens] to come to the meeting,” said Matherne. “They can hold it a few minutes before or after the meeting and let all nine members be involved. That’s bull.”

Lorraine argues that hearing the public’s concerns on a separate night would cut down on public wishing to address the council during council meetings and allow the council more time to focus on other topics.

The chairman vowed to call District Attorney Cam Morvant to see if he can create the committee without the council’s consent.

“I was just going to the council for respect,” said Lorraine. “If I can do it on my own, I’ll have a meeting Monday. If I can’t, I’ll wait until the next council meeting, and I promise it’ll pass when [Toups and Fertitta] will be here.”

Mathews Government Complex new roof delayed

The council also nixed accepting the low bid on the construction of a new roof on the Matthews Government Complex.

The parish received the low bid from Crown Architectural Metal Co., LLC for $262,530 July 7, after the council’s agenda had been released for the July 13 meeting.

The resolution was not added to the unanimous agenda by last the July 12 deadline.

Needing a unanimous council vote in order to be able to discuss and vote on it, Jones attempted to bring it up from the floor only to be shot down by Lorraine.

“They need to start doing their work on time,” said Lorraine. “We have rules and regulations, and I just wanted to show them to get their stuff done on time.”

With all the necessary paperwork in hand, Jones said he wanted to get the process of constructing the roof going before the next council meeting July 27.

“Now, we’ll probably have to wait another month to get moving on the building. Government is already a slow process but that just slows it down even more,” said Jones. “Just to take 30 seconds to get the process on the road and get going should be a no brainier.”

Lafourche wants any BP litigation to be tried in Louisiana court

In conjunction with other local parishes, the Lafourche Parish Council passed a motion stating any litigation pertaining to the oil spill that affects Lafourche Parish be tried in a Louisiana court.

“The concern is that if there is litigation, it could be heard in Houston or elsewhere,” said Randolph. “What they’re trying to do is get all the coastal parishes together and say, ‘We all want it to be heard in Louisiana’.”

Although Lafourche Parish currently has no litigation against BP, the council would like to cover its bases in case the parish, or any entity involving the parish, were to sue BP in the future.

“If it’s tried in Houston, I think we’re losing some of our grounds,” said councilman Michael Delatte. “This is where the damage is. This is where it occurred.”

Councilmen asked to wear appropriate attire to meetings

Brought up by Jones, the council passed a resolution requesting all members to wear a tie, dress shirt and dress slacks at council meetings.

“It’s only a request,” said Jones. “It’s not an ordinance for law.”

Council members will not be banned from meetings if they are not properly attired.

Louis Richard and Lorraine voted against the measure.

“I don’t have that problem. I wear a coat and tie most of the time anyway,” said Lorraine. “I don’t need anybody to tell me how to dress.”