Vitter Meets with Jindal, Landrieu, Davis and Local Officials on Lake Pontchartrain Mitigation Plan

Press Release

Vitter Meets with Jindal, Landrieu, Davis and Local Officials on Lake Pontchartrain Mitigation Plan

U.S. Sen. David Vitter today met with Gov. Bobby Jindal, New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, St. Tammany Parish President Kevin Davis and local officials to continue developing a plan to protect Lake Pontchartrain from possible encroachment of the oil slick from the Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

"If it were up to BP and the federal government, there still wouldn't be a plan for protecting Lake Pontchartrain and the surrounding areas," said Vitter. "The plan we've been working on to mitigate the effects of the oil spill is a perfect example of how collaboration between local and state officials should be driving this process. Now it's time for the Coast Guard and BP to green-light this plan in a timely way so that it can move forward."

After the meeting at Fort Pike, at the tip of the Rigolets near the mouth of Lake Pontchartrain, Vitter was scheduled to call U.S. Coast Guard officials to push them to approve the plan. Following Coast Guard approval, BP, as the party responsible for the spill, would be required under law to pay for implementation of the plan.

"Once this plan is approved and the appropriate resources are committed, we need to act in a timely and aggressive way to protect Lake Pontchartrain and other areas of southeast Louisiana from further damage due to the spill," said Vitter.

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