Gulf oil spill: Should the U.S. Army Corps start dredging?

Should the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, long the bête noire of environmentalists, undertake a massive dredging project to protect Louisiana from the oil spill? Some ecologists are dubious, but Louisiana officials are stepping up pressure on the Corps to act soon.

The Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority filed for an emergency permit on May 11 for the $350-million project, asking the Corps to build sand piles along the gulf side of the Chandeleurs and other barrier islands. A Corps spokesman said that the request is "a top priority" but that the agency is "currently evaluating all of this information for potential environmental effects" as required by law.

"The Corps just doesn't get it," Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) said Thursday. "The regular Corps timetable won't work. Thick oil has already gotten behind our existing barrier islands and is infiltrating our marsh. Yet the Corps is showing no sense of urgency."

Louisiana Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal also called on the Corps to approve the plan, saying that the booms placed along the shore were not enough to protect it from the oil that has been gushing from a BP well since an April 20 blowout. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, more than 34 miles of Louisiana shoreline has suffered from oil slicks and tar balls.

Barrier islands are fragile ecosystems, however, and the effect of dredging is unclear. The Corps is consulting with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

John Lopez, coastal program director for the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation, told Bloomberg News that "our position so far has been to be sure they engage the appropriate coastal scientists and engineers" because dredging could possibly do "more harm" than good.

Congressional pressure on the Corps is high. "I've been pushing the administration and the Corps daily in meetings, conference calls and hearings for the approval of this barrier island plan for almost two weeks," said Vitter, a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, which has jurisdiction over the Corps. "I'll be redoubling my efforts with calls today to Adm. Thad Allen [of the Coast Guard] and Lt. Gen. Robert Van Antwerp to continue beating the drum." Antwerp is the commanding general of the Army Corps of Engineers.

Louisiana provides about a third of the seafood in the lower 48 states at a value of some $2.85 billion a year.

--Margot Roosevelt

Photo: Oil booms along the Louisiana shore may not be enough to protect the ecologically rich coastline. Louisiana officials want the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to build sand barriers. Credit: Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[Merle Savage]

Article from Las Vegas Review Journal:
http://www.lvrj.com/news/exxon-valdez-oil-risks-spur-warning-for-gulf-cleanup-crews-93258964.html

More on the Subject:
The workers who are cleaning up the oil in the Gulf need to be aware of the chemicals that will be used. I am one of the 11,000+ cleanup workers from the Exxon Valdez oil spill, who is suffering from health issues from that toxic cleanup, without compensation from Exxon.

My name is Merle Savage; a female general foreman during the Exxon Valdez oil spill (EVOS) beach cleanup in 1989, which turned into 21 years of extensive health deterioration for me, and many other workers. Dr. Riki Ott visited me in 2007 to explain about the toxic spraying on the beaches. She also informed me that Exxon's medical records and the reports that surfaced in litigation by sick workers in 1994, had been sealed from the public, making it impossible to hold Exxon responsible for their actions.
http://www.rikiott.com

Dr. Riki Ott has devoted her life to taking control from corporations and giving it back to We The People. If corporations continue to control our legal system, then We The People become victims. http://www.MovetoAmend.org

Dr. Riki Ott has written two books; Sound Truth & Corporate Myth$ and Not One Drop. Dr. Ott has investigated and studied the oil spill spraying, and quotes numerous reports in her books, on the toxic chemicals that were used during the 1989 Prince William Sound oily beach cleanup. Black Wave the Film is based on Not One Drop, with interviews of cleanup victims; my interview was featured in the section; Like a War Zone.
http://www.blackwavethefilm.com

Exxon developed the toxic spraying; OSHA, the Coast Guard, and the state of Alaska authorized the procedure; VECO and other Exxon contractors implemented it. Beach crews breathed in crude oil that splashed off the rocks and into the air -- the toxic exposure turned into chronic breathing conditions and central nervous system problems, along with other massive health issues. Some of the illnesses include neurological impairment, chronic respiratory disease, leukemia, lymphoma, brain tumors, liver damage, and blood disease.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5632208859935499100

My web site is devoted to searching for EVOS cleanup workers who were exposed to the toxic spraying, and are suffering from the same illnesses that I have. Our summer employment turned into a death sentence for many -- and a life of unending medical conditions for the rest of us.
http://www.silenceinthesound.com/stories.shtml
http://www.silenceinthesound.com/gallery.shtml

[Daniel Ullfig]

Pretty silly to argue over what the environmental impact of dredging is going to be. Compared to what? what is the environmental impact of NOT DREDGING going to be? Dredging can't possible be worse than millions of gallons of oil poured on the costline. Let's face it. the coast will no longer be pristine after this, no matter what. We need to find the lesser of two evils.

[Terry Spragg]

View the YouTube video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TEJp6UZaDI of television news coverage of huge, specially designed waterbags, with the ability to be linked together with the world's strongest zipper (tested and designed at MIT) that will form miles of deep water barrier reefs all along the Gulf Coast. Photos can be seen on the www.waterbag.com website. Trains of "Spragg Bags" will be towed to the designated barrier sights and secured at each end with a patented towing bridle. BP has been presented a proposal to dredge a 43 mile sand barrier that will take 4 to 6 months to complete at a cost of $350,000,000. A comparable waterbag barrier can be implemented for less than $150,000,000 and within 30 days. We propose a quick and inexpensive test of this system in the Gulf. This demonstration will attract positive media attention. BP logos (Coke, Pepsi, Microsoft, Google?) will be on top of the waterbags as an example of BP's and other's creative thinking to solve a catastrophic problem. The "Spragg Bag" demonstration in the Gulf will be historic. This demonstration will also begin to verify the ability of waterbag technology to deliver large volumes of fresh water to Southern California. When two connected waterbags pass underneath the Golden Gate Bridge filled at Humboldt Bay and headed for Southern California we will create California water history. MWD has written a letter in support of this California waterbag demonstration voyage. We look forward to a LOS ANGELES TIMES reporter coming along for the ride.

[Richard Owen Jr.]

first off we need to throw man power at this thing not brain power.We have to begin constuction of a large derrick set up between two ships,this way you can have control of the rig.Next we start a large combined effort to feed a threaded pipe ten to fifteen feet in diameter with outside threads to penatrate the sea floor .It will take a large effort but i beleive that feeding a pipe down over the whole site will take the flow of oil .Once the path of least resistance has been established the oil will flow up through the pipe from water preasure.There must be a releif valve and tanker ready to fill at time of caption.Once the releif is working a large bulkhead fitting can be attached and the oil can be distributed properly.
please consider this plan respectfuly Richard Owen Jr.

[V8A]

I am no expert, but how about using the Dubai trick to creating islands by using sea land to cover the leaks.

[V8A]

Man-oh-man, we all know this is a long term problem with no immediate solution at hand. How is every drop of oil going to be picked up from this mess. The Valdez oil is still not picked up and the quantity of oil spilled by the Valdez is no where the same quantity of oil as the offshoring incident that is occuring right now. To try and make money the company is trying to gather as much oil than to simply find a solution to place a plug on the underground problem. It looks like they did not drill deep enough if three underground leaks rose after the explosion on the pipeline.