Gov. Jindal, build your berms

The Louisiana governor, charged with protecting the citizens of his state as much as possible from things such as ecological disaster, and also cognizant of his state's relation to others via the national government and the U.S. Constitution, is torn: build some sand berms to buffer fragile ecosystems from an advancing oil slick, or honor the looming figure of Uncle Sam personified at present through the person of President Obama.

Apparently gaining the approval of Uncle Sam is a process mired in red tape and the detached, intellectual conservationism of those who are far removed -- geographically and emotionally -- from the myriad oil-covered carcasses washing up on Louisiana's shore, and whose concern would only reach rational levels when the oil problem affected their consumption of imported shrimp and crawfish etouffee.

Let's just say, hypothetically, that Louisiana built its protective sand dunes without the approval of the feds. Would the present administration actually put itself in the position of bringing in U.S. military engineers to remove them?

Gov. Jindal, build your berms.