Work is underway in closing two breaches along the coast of Elmer’s Island west of Grand Isle to help protect the coastal wetlands from the oil spill now threatening the fishing industry in southern Louisiana.
One of the breaches was created during Hurricane Katrina on the west side of Caminada Pass where trucks were hauling sand to fill in the gap earlier this week. The other is a mile west of there on the beach side of the island where helicopters are dropping 5,000-pound bags of sand to fill a gap.
Authorities expected the work to be completed Tuesday night.
Booms are also being placed alongside the passes going into the Gulf at Grand Isle. A boom is also planned to be put along the west side of the bridge connecting Grand Isle with the mainland and another boom will be placed alongside it to soak up the oil.
Many men from the U. S. Coast Guard and National Guard are on the island helping out from headquarters at the Tarpon Rodeo Headquarters building on the east end of the island. British Petroleum has a headquarters at the Community Center on the island.
Gov. Bobby Jindall wants to restore the broken barrier island chain along the Louisiana coast to help protect us from oil spills in the Gulf and hurricanes in the future. Included would be the Chandeleur Islands which have all but disappeared. Then there are islands in the Barataria Basin south of St. Charles and east of Grand Isle. As stated above, Elmer’s Island is being somewhat restored west of Grand Isle.
South of Terrebonne Parish are the Timbalier Islands and what used to be Last Island just east of the Atchafalaya River.
Now, those islands have eroded into small pieces that are not as effective in protecting the coast. Restoring them would be the quickest way to protect our coast from offshore oil spills and erosion.
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