Latest Mississippi River Delta News: July 5, 2013
Design for Houma Navigation Canal moves forward
By Nikki Buskey. The Daily Comet (Thibodaux, La.). July 5, 2013.
“State officials say work is heading toward the design phase for a $500 million lock in the Houma Navigation Canal that aims to stop salt water from intruding up the canal and into Terrebonne Parish. Terrebonne Levee Director Reggie Dupre said the state is working with URS Corp., the company that was working on the lock’s design with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers…” (Read more).
David Rainey, Former BP Executive, Given More Time To Prepare For Gulf Oil Spill Trial
The Associated Press. July 3, 2013.
“NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A federal judge has postponed the trial of a former BP executive charged with concealing information from Congress about the amount of oil that was spewing from the company’s blown-out well in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010…” (Read more).
Local officials support coastal measure
By Chance Ryan. The Houma Courier (Houma, La.). July 3, 2013.
“Local elected officials are endorsing an amendment that passed the U.S. House in June that would double the yearly revenue cap on offshore oil and gas revenue Louisiana receives for coastal projects. The amendment, attached to the Offshore Energy and Jobs Act of 2013…” (Read more).
BP objects to fisheries closure in Grand Terre
By Nikki Buskey. The Houma Courier (Houma, La.). July 3, 2013.
“BP officials are objecting to the state’s decision to close waters around Grand Terre to fishing after a 40,000-pound tar mat was unearthed in the surf just off the island. Grand Terre is an uninhabited barrier island east of Grand Isle. The tar mat, which was 165 feet long by 65 feet wide, was about 85 percent sand, shells and water, and 15 percent oil. It was removed over a period of a few weeks…” (Read more).
Congressional letter asks FEMA to administratively block huge flood insurance hikes
By Bruce Alpert. The Times-Picayune (New Orleans, La.). July 3, 2013.
“WASHINGTON — One of the authors of the 2012 flood insurance reform law has written a letter with 26 congressional colleagues that asks the Federal Emergency Management Agency to take administrative steps to avert huge increases in premiums resulting from the agency’s implementation of the law…” (Read more).
Taylor Energy oil platform, destroyed in 2004 during Hurricane Ivan, is still leaking in Gulf
By Mark Schleifstein. The Times-Picayune (New Orleans, La.). July 1, 2013.
“Every day, an airplane with contractors working for Taylor Energy Ltd. flies over a spot 12 miles south of the mouth of the Mississippi River looking for an oil sheen. That spot was the doomed location of Taylor Energy’s Mississippi Canyon 20-A production platform, which towered 550 feet above 28 producing oil and gas wells…” (Read more).