http://www.sunherald.com/2010/05/27/2216357/barbour-trusts-corps-of-engineers.htmlThursday, May. 27, 2010
Barbour trusts corps of engineers
By KAREN NELSON -
[email protected] BILOXI — Gov. Haley Barbour and DMR Director Bill Walker said Thursday they trust the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers not to allow Louisiana to build any berm or sand barriers east of the mouth of Mississippi River that would cause oil to flow into Mississippi waters.
Desperate to protect miles of sensitive marsh at Louisiana’s southernmost regions, state officials there had asked the federal government for permission to ring the state’s southeastern shoreline with 86 miles of berm.
U.S. Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen on Thursday approved portions of the $350 million plan for the wall of sand meant to keep out the oil.
Allen said the state could move forward on the network of sand berms along the Chandeleur Islands and a string of barrier islands west of the Mississippi River.
There was concern that building a berm between the Chandeleurs and the marshes of eastern Plaquemines Parish could interfere with the natural flow of water in the Gulf, alter tides and end up driving oil east into the Mississippi Sound.