Sandbar Plan Is Bad Science

Bobby Jindal's plan to protect the Louisiana coastline with sandbars is more the product of political hysteria than pragmatic decision-making, Sharon Begley writes for Newsweek. Few coastal scientists think the berms—which will cost $360 million initially and need to be constantly rebuilt—will protect the wetlands from BP's oil.

There is even a danger than the sandbars may block inlets that allow water to pass into the wetlands, disrupting its life processes: "You could kill the wetlands without the oil ever reaching them," says one coastal geologist. The plan will set a bad precedent, Begley notes: "BP’s oil will assault the gulf, and possibly the Atlantic, for years. Many more decisions that turn on science lie ahead."