Scientists team up to attack Louisiana's Gulf oil spill berm plan

Last week, in surveying a berm-building project along the northern stretch of the Chandeleur Islands, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal noted that during one day the previous week, 500 pounds of oil-soaked debris had been collected from the berm.

The state is seeking permission to build an additional 61 miles of berms along the coast.

Yet coastal scientists say that experience also has shown that Louisiana's berm project is likely to be an exercise in futility.

Some of the berm work along the Chandeleurs vanished after a pounding from surf kicked up by hurricane Alex. Now, tropical storm Bonnie’s current track puts it on a collision course with the Louisiana coast and the fledgling berms.

The berm project is moving so slowly "that it will never 'close the door' to the oil," the researchers argue in the letter. By the time the project reaches its 40th mile, "it is likely that much of the earlier-constructed berm will be gone."

Scientific disapproval widespread

Although the letter was signed by 21 researchers, scientific opposition to the berm plan extends far beyond the letter's signatories, says Torbjorn Torqvist, a coastal researcher at Tulane University in New Orleans who was not part of the group backing the letter.

Opposition to letting coastal engineering projects run their course with no serious analysis of the long-term effects is virtually unanimous, he says. "This is really basic, something you can read in every introductory geology or oceanography textbook. With engineered structures on sandy shorelines, you are almost by definition are going to cause a change somewhere in the wider region."

Now is the time to pause, says Denise Reed, who heads the Laboratory for Coastal Restoration Science at the University of New Orleans.

A team could quickly lay out the pros and cons of coastal engineering projects and gauge their likely effects over the short and long terms, she adds. "The Admiral Allen can make these decisions with eyes wide open."

IN PICTURES: The Gulf oil spill's impact on nature

Related:

• Gulf oil spill: Louisiana's berm plan bold but full of uncertainty
• Tropical storm Bonnie: A two-week delay in Gulf oil spill cleanup?
• In New Orleans, Gulf oil spill anger turns to Obama

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