92The Military Engineer ? July-August ? 2010 Louisiana Guardsmen Protect Gulf Coast T he National Guards of several Gulf Region states were on standby in late May as oil-tainted waters approached shore following the April 20 explosion of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil rig. All but conceding the open waters of their states coast to the oil slick, various engineering units of the Louisiana National Guard spent several weeks constructing water diversion systems, assembling temporary wharfs, packing sandbags and ?lling breaches in an effort to protect fragile inland wetlands from contamination. Heavy equipment operators from the Louisiana National Guards 922nd Horizontal Engineer Company, 769th Engineer Battalion, bulldoze sand to close a strait between two peninsulas near Grand Isle, La., May 10. The closure will be a secondary defense in addition to a boom line in the Gulf of Mexico to prevent any oil from reaching further inland. Photo by Staff Sgt. Denis Ricou Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Toby M. Valadie Louisiana National Guardsmen of the 2225th Multi- Role Bridge Company, 205th Engineer Battalion, con- struct a 300-ft temporary wharf that will be used to load boats with booms and supplies at Campos Ma- rina in St. Bernard, La., on May 6. Army photo by Sgt. Michael L. Owens ABOVE: Soldiers of the Louisiana National Guards 1023rd Vertical Engineer Company, 528th Engineer Battalion continue constructing an interlocking water diversion system, May 14, near Venice, La., at the southwest pass of the Mississippi River Delta. The dam will act as a second line of defense to the boom line to protect the natural marshlands. RIGHT: The Louisiana National Guards 769th Engineer Battalion and State Aviation Command work May 11 to ?ll breaches with 3,000-lbs to 5,000-lbs sandbags in Lafourche Parish, La., in an effort to keep oil- tainted water from moving to closer to the coast of Louisiana. Army photo by Pfc. Tarell Bilbo
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