Spat in rivers while the fish eggs were hatching

Last week, Bobby Jindal announced Louisiana's plan for using its share of BP money to be paid out in compensation for the 2010 Macondo oil well disaster.

Former director of the Governor's Applied Coastal Science Program and LaCoast Post founding editor Len Bahr assesses Jindal's plan in this post at NOLA Defender.

The governor is well aware that the Gulf Environmental Restoration Task Force established by President Obama envisions using the total amount of money that is ultimately billed to BP and the other responsible parties for comprehensive recovery from cumulative long term Gulf coast damage, not limited to oil damage in 2010.

No matter what level of funding the state actually receives in the near term, I strongly disagree with the first two of three categories for which Gov. Jindal decided to allocate the BP bucks: (1) oyster habitat restoration: (2) fish hatcheries; and (3) barrier island restoration projects. Categories 1 and 2 will do absolutely nothing to prevent the continued sinking and shrinking of America’s Delta.

Bahr goes on to speculate that Jindal's disbursements reveal a political deference to the oyster and fishing lobbies which distorts priorities in a way that hinders comprehensive coastal restoration efforts. This echoes a similar criticism of the oystermen by Ivor Van Heerden which appeared in The Lens this spring.

I have no doubt that there is some truth in this. Certainly Jindal is pandering to a well-orgainized interest group and probably this is diverting some funds and attention away from where they may be of more immediate use. But it's important to remember, while we're keeping score, that the oystermen are on the victims' side of this too.

It wasn't oystermen who chewed through the Louisiana marshes with pipelines and service canals and it wasn't oystermen who have dumped nearly half a million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico over the past five decades not including last year's BP disaster. (See here for more on this number and Senator Landrieu's disgraceful lies about the size of that number.)

Fisheries and oyster beds were directly damaged by last year's spill and their reclamation deserves attention. Yes, it would appear that the oyster industry needs to give some ground concerning the use of freshwater diversion for coastal rebuilding. At the same time, however, this ongoing dispute is already being used by BP to shun responsibility for this year's kill.

the company has clearly moved from a public relations strategy to one focusing on litigation over whether damage to the state's oyster beds was BP's fault. The state contends that its decision to open many freshwater diversions along the Mississippi River to full blast at the height of the oil spill kept oil from entering the oyster beds, though the fresh water killed the oysters, requiring the beds to be restocked with cultch, oyster shell deposited beneath the water on which oyster larvae grow.

Coastal scientists like Bahr and Van Heerden might be better served to focus their attentions on holding the oil and gas industry accountable for the damage it has done to everyone who depends on a healthy Louisiana coast rather than on the dismal internal divisions that damage has engendered.