strategic points. welsh the question really is not whether a pile of sand out in the gulf will collect a little bit of oil. certainly it will. the real question is, would we have been able to collect that oil through traditional methods like skimming. will these berm is have some kind of negative environment fall impact? do you think lit make it will m worse? first of all, we don t think it will work. we don t think they ll last and there s evidence that shows even a small storm can tear these things apart. what really frightens me is that i heard recently the governor s office is preparing to apply for a permit to rip rap or put hard structure around these berms to armor these constructions and that would be an environmental disaster for louisiana. why is that? well, if you create essentially a rock wall out there and it s still not quite clear the extent of the armoring that they would like to do, but,
the oil that s existing and making its way through the passes and the inlets into the wetlands behind them. the governor says they ve recovered 500 pounds of oily debris in just one day on one of these berms and they re at key strategic points. well, the question really is not whether a pile of sand out in the gulf will collect a little bit of oil. certainly it will. the real question is, would we have been able to collect that oil through traditional methods like skimming. will these berm is have some kind of negative environment fall impact? do you think it will make it worse? first of all, we don t think this project will work. we don t think the berms will last and there s some photographic evidence that shows even a small storm can tear these berms apart pretty well. what really frightens me is that i heard recently the governor s office is preparing to apply for a permit to rip-rap or put hard structure around these berms to armor these constructions and that would be an
clear the extent of the armoring that they would like to do, but, you know, they have a permit to build 40-plus miles of berm. and if they were to try to armor all of it to keep it from washing away, you would completely change the dynamics of that coast. you re going to change the way the tides move in and out, you re going to change the wave climate. you re going to change the way the sediment moves. and all of this could be very detrimental to habitat. it could do more harm than good for the wetlands you re try og to protect. you re hearing perhaps the ecological impact of this spill may not be as bad as some had feared early on. tell me about that. well, i ve spoken with a lot of agency officials and a lot of scientists in louisiana. so far, the oil hanot penetrated incredibly deeply into the wetlands. and there s a growing faith that the system could recover from this spill, and i think what scientists are becoming increasingly worried about is that the plans for the long-term
what really frightens me is that i heard recently that the governor s office is applying for a permit. why is that? well, if you create essentially a rock wall out there and it s still not quite clear, the extent of the armoring that they would like to do, but they have a permit to build 40-feet miles of berm, if they were trying to keep it from washing away, then you would completely change the dynamics of that coast. the way that the tides move in and out and the way that the sediment moves and all of this could be very detrimental to habitat. it could do more harm to the wetlands than tha you re trying to protect. you re hearing that the eke logical impact may not be as bad
clear, the extent of the armoring that they would like to do, but they have a permit to build 40-feet miles of berm, if they were trying to keep it from washing away, then you would completely change the dynamics of that coast. the way that the tides move in and out and the way that the sediment moves and all of this could be very detrimental to habitat. it could do more harm to the wetlands than you re trying to protect. you re hearing that the eke logical impact may not be as bad as some had feared early on. tell me about that. well, i spoke with a lot of agency officials and scientists in louisiana. so far the oil has not penetrated incredibly deeply into the wetlands and there is a growing faith that the system could recover from this spill. and i think what the scientists are backing increasingly worried about is that the plans for the long term ecological restoration