It was also promised that state and federal agencies will be watching and monitoring fish that is caught near danger zones to make sure that they are safe to consume.
Well, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal has had a very frustrating week and half fighting to get working barges to begin vacuuming crude oil out of his state's oil-soaked waters. By Thursday morning, against the governor's wishes, those barges still were sitting idle, even as more oil flowed toward the Louisiana shore.
So what happened?
"The Coast Guard came and shut them down," Jindal said. "You got men on the barges in the oil, and they have been told by the Coast Guard, 'Cease and desist. Stop sucking up that oil.'"
The Coast Guard ordered the cleanup stopped because they needed to make sure that there were fire extinguishers and life vests on board, and then it had trouble contacting the people who built the barges.
A frustrated Governor Couldn't Overrule Coast Guard
He said he didn't have the authority to overrule the Coast Guard's decision, though he tried to reach the White House to raise his concerns.
"They promised us they were going to get it done as quickly as possible," he said. But "every time you talk to someone different at the Coast Guard, you get a different answer."
After Jindal strenuously made his case, the barges finally got the go-ahead Thursday to return to the Gulf and get back to work, after more than 24 hours of sitting idle.
