PINEVILLE, La., - The Louisiana National Guard is providing a new initiative called the Louisiana National Guard Parish Branch Operations Team to assist Coast Guard branch directors, Gov. Bobby Jindal announced July 2.
The governor said the teams will aid in providing real-time information of skimming operations and oil collection in the Gulf of Mexico to assist in tracking accountability of the vessels. They will be located in Terrebonne, Jefferson, Lafourche, St. Bernard, Plaquemines and St. Tammany Parishes.
“The Louisiana National Guard will be our eyes and ears on the ground so we know how many skimmers are being operated, how much oil is being collected, so that we have real-time information in this war to protect our coast,” said Jindal.
The team will help the Coast Guard deploy skimmers to patches of oil before it hits the coast in a more efficient manner, comparable to the monitoring of boom operations.
“We are pleased to be working closer with the U.S. Coast Guard to enhance the response time to oil sightings,” said Army Brig. Gen. Glenn Curtis, the Louisiana National Guard’s director of the Joint Staff. “We also want to maximize the use of all resources available to protect our coastline and marshes.”