Governor Jindal: BP Has Sent Us Press Releases and Lawyers But Still No Money for Sand Booming Work
NEW ORLEANS (June 4, 2010) - Governor Bobby Jindal released the following statement today regarding his meeting with President Obama and elected officials in New Orleans, concerning the response efforts to the ongoing BP oil spill:
“I am glad the president came today. Every time he comes to Louisiana the pace of the response efforts quickens and things get done. Shortly before his first visit during this spill, Admiral Allen was named as Incident Commander. Before his visit last week, the Coast Guard called for BP to pay for one of the segments in our sand boom plan and before his visit this week, the Coast Guard called on BP to pay for the construction of all six segments approved by the Corps – although BP still hasn’t given the state a dime to pay for the work.
“Just as we said yesterday, we told the President we are moving ahead without BP. We already signed contracts to begin this work with Shaw and Bean Dredging. We put in a request to the Army Corps of Engineers this morning to release their available dredges and they have indentified four dredges – including one located close to the site that is most likely to be available – the MV CALIFORNIA. I met with the CEO of Shaw today and they said that if the US Army Corps of Engineers will allow them to borrow sand closer to the dredging sites, which we will replace, we could see sand by Monday.
“We are moving forward with or without BP. We gave them two choices – they can either send us a check, get out of the way and let us start this work, or they can sign a contract and do it themselves. We are going ahead without them. Last night, we met with Admiral Allen and he said he feels like he is making progress in getting BP to actually pay for this work. To date, BP has done a great job in sending us press releases and attorneys, but they haven’t sent us any money to dredge.”