Page 6 - ARUBA TODAY

A6 U.S. NEWS
Tuesday 4 February 2020
BP oil spill cash rebuilds eroded Louisiana pelican island

By JANET McCONNAUGHEY island about 45 miles (72
Associated Press kilometers) south of New
QUEEN BESS ISLAND, La. Orleans, more than 1,000
(AP) — A Louisiana island birds died. Brown pelicans
that provides a crucial and other birds could be
nesting ground for pelicans seen struggling, their wings
and other seabirds is being weighed down by black
restored to nearly its for- muck.
mer size after decades of Contractors for Louisiana's
coastal erosion and a dev- Coastal Protection and
astating offshore oil spill 10 Restoration Authority en-
years ago. larged the island by dredg-
Gov. John Bel Edwards vis- ing up Mississippi River sand
ited the island Monday, un- and pumping it inside the
veiling a sign dedicating it outlines of rock and other
as a wildlife refuge. material from the 1990s res-
"The walk we just made toration, which used silt. The
wouldn't have been pos- sand, designers hope, will
sible a few weeks ago," the be more stable. The author-
governor said after crossing ity also built a line of rock
an expanse of sand bear- Pelicans fly over and sit on man made rock revetment on Queen Bess Island in Barataria Bay, La., breakwaters 75 to 95 feet
ing tread marks from heavy Monday, Feb. 3, 2020. (23 to 29 meters) from shore
equipment used to cre- Associated Press to slow erosion and provide
ate and grade new land. calm water for young birds.
He spoke at a podium set torations in the 1990s — was this year, he said. you're a tiny island you're Most of the island is being
up before waist-high man- high enough for pelicans Though barely a blip of an on the front lines of sea-lev- restored as a pelican habi-
groves, which contractors to nest, said Todd Baker, island off the Gulf of Mexi- el rise and coastal erosion." tat, with 7 acres (2.8 hect-
left untouched for pelicans a biologist supervising res- co in Barataria Bay, Queen Funds to restore Queen ares) for skimmers, terns
to nest on. toration for the Louisiana Bess plays an outsize role Bess Island and for future and other birds that nest on
About 6,500 brown peli- Department of Wildlife and as one of Louisiana's larg- monitoring and upkeep rocks.
cans and 3,000 smaller sea- Fisheries. Once a mere strip est rookeries for brown peli- flow from a $20 billion set- In recent years, Baker
birds cram their nests every of land, the island now cov- cans, supplying real estate tlement that the federal said, nests have been so
summer onto Queen Bess ers 37 acres (15 hectares), for up to a fifth of the state's government and the five jammed "you can't hardly
Island, which shrank from with most of it for the in- nests. It's also where the Gulf Coast states reached step on land without touch-
45 acres (18 hectares) in creasingly cramped birds. pelican, Louisiana's state with energy giant BP PLC ing a nest."
1956 to about 15 acres (6 Edwards said the $18.7 mil- bird, was reintroduced in for environmental damage He said the crowding has
hectares) of marsh by 2010, lion project to enlarge and the 1960s after pesticides from the 2010 spill. made the island's woody
when the Deepwater Hori- maintain the island is part had killed off the state's en- The offshore explosion and plants look like apartment
zon spill fouled its beaches of $550 million that that has tire population. fire that year on BP's leased houses, with nest above
with oily gunk. restored more than 4,200 Loss of the small islands drilling rig killed 11 people. nest above nest: perhaps
Until the restoration, only acres (1,700 hectares) of where pelicans nest has The well spewed more than a laughing gull on the
about 5 acres (2 hectares) Louisiana's coast and is- crowded the big birds into 100 million gallons (378 mil- ground, an egret or rose-
— most of it along the is- lands. More than $800 mil- about 10 colonies, fewer lion liters) of oil into the wa- ate spoonbill in middle
land's edges and the out- lion in additional work is than half the number in ter over 87 days. branches and a brown pel-
lines left by short-lived res- expected across Louisiana 2010, Baker said. "When When the oil reached the ican nest at the top.q

October criminal trial date

set for Giuliani associates

trial date. Democratic presidential business interests and po-
If the trial begins on time, it nomination. litical goals, including the
will occur a month before Last week, Parnas got per- campaign to get the U.S. to
the presidential election. mission from the judge replace Ambassador Marie
Parnas was smiling and to travel to Washington, Yovanovitch in Ukraine.
wearing an American-flag where he sought to attend Parnas recently provided
pin in court. Outside court, the U.S. Senate's impeach- congressional investiga-
he declined to say if he ment trial of President tors with a recording of an
Lev Parnas speaks to the media outside a Manhattan court- was cooperating. He said Donald Trump. He was not April 2018 dinner meeting
house in New York on Monday, Feb. 3, 2019. he believes the truth will able to get in because he in which Trump demanded
Associated Press emerge. was wearing an electronic her removal. She was sub-
Parnas and fellow defen- bracelet on his ankle as sequently removed.
NEW YORK (AP) — An Oc- tions. Lev Parnas was the dant Igor Fruman had part of his bail conditions. Parnas attended the small
tober trial date was set only defendant among worked with Giuliani to try Parnas and Fruman have dinner at his Washing-
Monday for two associ- four men facing trial to be to convince Ukraine to an- pleaded not guilty to ton hotel. The recording
ates of Rudy Giuliani who at a Manhattan courthouse nounce an investigation of charges alleging they seemed to contradict the
are charged with making when U.S. District Judge J. former Vice President Joe made illegal campaign president's statements that
illegal campaign contribu- Paul Oetken set the Oct. 5 Biden. Biden is seeking the contributions to further their he did not know Parnas.q