Coast Guard OKs local plan to help clean up oil spill; gov calls for similar ideas elsewhere

Gov: Coast Guard OKs local spill cleanup plan

BATON ROUGE, La. — Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal says the Coast Guard has approved one parish’s plan to help contain the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Plaquemines (PLAK’-uh-minz) Parish president Billy Nungesser described the plan earlier Saturday, saying the parish would set up a jack up boat inside the barrier islands where inflatable booms would be distributed.

A jack up boat is a vessel with poles on four corners that allows it to lift itself out of water to become a stationary platform.

The reason for using this technique is that there is not enough boom to make a continuous line around the coast. The jack up boat could be used as a staging center.

Nungesser says St. Bernard Parish has pitched a similar plan, and Jindal has asked every coastal parish to come up with its own plan.