Legislation supporting high-speed passenger rail lines along the Gulf Coast and between New Orleans and Baton Rouge could soon reach Gov. Bobby Jindal’s desk.

Louisiana House Bill 1410, would create a board of directors responsible for finding alternative sources of revenue to fund portions of the project rather than relying heavily on federal funding. Jindal had criticized a previous proposal to connect rail lines because it included an application for $300 million in federal stimulus money. He said he supported the idea of high-speed rail lines, but he wanted the funds to come from a different source.

The bill will go to the Senate floor for a vote on Thursday.

State Rep. Michael L. Jackson, I-Baton Rouge, sponsored the legislation, which outlines perceived inadequacies in federal funding for larger transportation projects, many of which have strong support from Louisiana business owners.

“Public sources of revenues, including federal funding, that provide an efficient transportation system have not kept pace with the state’s growing population and transportation needs,” the bill reads.

At a news conference Tuesday, Mayors Mitch Landrieu of New Orleans and Kip Holden of Baton Rouge pledged their support of the rail line, saying that it would bring much-needed business to both cities. The line is part of a larger proposal to create high-speed travel along the Gulf Coast that was drafted by the Southern High-Speed Rail Commission in partnership with the Mississippi and Alabama transportation departments. The total cost of renovating and rebuilding existing rail lines among the Gulf states would be $447,789,409, according to a March report by the commission.

Under this proposal, the New Orleans-Baton Rouge line would travel at a maximum speed of 79 mph, with eight stops between the two cities. Fares would be $10 one way, with a travel time of one hour and 24 minutes, about the same time it can take to drive the approximately 80 miles between the two cities.

Jackson said the public response to the rail proposal has been generally positive.

Once the state passed up the opportunity to apply for federal stimulus funds for the rail project, Jackson said, state legislators had more time to develop interest in the rail line.

“The bottom line is that this needs to happen for a lot of obvious reasons,” Jackson said. “We’re glad to be in a position now to have as many people as possible on board to say this transportation effort is going to happen.”

Jackson said he was confident Jindal would sign the bill.

Estimates on when construction on the rail line could begin are still up in the air. Jackson’s bill does not include specific language indicating when the line would be completed. Instead, the bill is intended to be a step toward funding and implementation of the passenger line in the future, Jackson said.

Warren Flatou, a spokesman for the Federal Railroad Administration, said, “The states alone are making a determination whether they are going to seek funding for any purpose.” He said that “in subsequent rounds it’s conceivable that the state may seek federal funding, but we have no way to predict what the state will or will not do.”

Jackson said language that would lock the state into a timetable for building the line had to be omitted from the bill to ensure Jindal’s signature.

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Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana speaking to the media during a news conference on Friday in Cocodrie, La., in Terrebonne Parish. (Imani Cheers/NYT Institute)

Visitors to the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium in Cocodrie on Friday received more than an education about the marine research center. They also got to hear the state’s governor explain why they could not go to a popular nearby beach.

As of noon Friday, the almost deserted seven-mile-long Grand Isle beach had been closed by state officials because it was contaminated by oil residue. Now, residents of the coastal parishes are worried the oil could reach more of the coastline in the coming days. Grand Isle is only one of many beaches harmed by the explosion more than a month ago of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig.

On Friday, Gov. Bobby Jindal joined officials from the Coast Guard and Terrebonne Parish President Michel Claudet to get a firsthand look at the impact of the oil along the coast in Grand Isle, Elmer’s Island, Thunder Bayou and Fourchon Beach.

From a helicopter, the governor and his group saw miles of oil pooled at a land bridge of sandbags, which the National Guard just completed days ago at Thunder Bayou.

Jindal conducted a series of flyovers of the Gulf region during the week to spread awareness of the results of the Guard’s work, which he called effective. He has called for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers approval of a state plan to create miles of sand barriers around the coast. So far, that approval has not come. Friday’s flyover and public meeting focused on the impact of the oil-laden water on Terrebonne Parish specifically and served to put public pressure on the Army Corps to approve his request.

Along with the governor, many government agencies, including the U.S. Department of the Interior, the Coast Guard and the Minerals Management Service, are also pressing the operator of the well, BP, for more assistance in responding to the April 20 explosion and subsequent spill.

On Friday, Jindal and Claudet were joined by State Rep. Gordon Dove, R-Houma, and Capt. Ed Stanton and Lt. Commander Dan Lauer of the Coast Guard.

The governor said that his office has asked BP to drop more boom, a type of material that is laid across a water body to collect and contain the oil residue. “Certainly boom is only one tool in our toolbox, but we need more boom,” the governor said. Terrebonne Parish has received 76,667 pounds of hard boom and only half of it has been dropped on the coast.

BP has been using several methods to collect the oil or contain it, as well as seeking to plug the leaking well entirely. None has been entirely effectively to date. For the past two weeks, BP has provided a live video feed to state and federal government entities that has been widely shown on media outlets.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has estimated that approximately 54 miles of Louisiana shoreline has been impacted by oil to date. Residents of the nine parishes along the coast, fishermen and many businesses that rely heavily on Louisiana maritime have seen their livelihoods jeopardized by the spill.

On Friday, the Department of Environmental Quality confirmed that oil has been seen on the barrier islands of Chandeleur, Whiskey, Raccoon and South Pass, as well as the Pass A Loutre area in Plaquemines Parish.

In his remarks following his flyover tour, Jindal stressed the urgency for dispersing additional boom and creating more land bridges with sandbags for the remaining shores of Terrebonne Parish as well as other sensitive areas in danger of contamination. He also stressed the need for approval of the emergency permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that would allow for the construction of more sand barriers.

According to the governor, 425 sandbags have been dropped onto Pelican Island by the National Guard as of this morning, filling gaps in coastal barrier islands with rock and sand. More than 2,500 cubic yards of rock and sand have been placed at a 420-foot gap near Thunder Bayou. Jindal pointed to this work as evidence of the need for federal approval of more sand buildup.

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Thick, brown oil continued to make its way along the Louisiana shore, touching southeast Louisiana parishes Wednesday, according to satellite and high altitude images.

Marsh Island, an uninhabited marshy island off the coast of southeast Louisiana and the tip of the Mississippi delta, suffered the most harm from the oil.

Gov. Bobby Jindal confirmed during a news conference Tuesday afternoon that the oil-laden water had reached parishes of Jefferson, St. Bernard, Terrebonne and Lafourche.

According to the Louisiana Office of Tourism, all nine coastal parishes and areas were unaffected by the oil spill and remain open for commercial and recreational fishing.

The primary affected areas are east of the Mississippi River. More than 80 percent of Louisiana’s coastal waters and charter’s fishing providers are in unaffected areas.

Since the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion on April 20, at least 210,000 gallons of oil has been dispersed into the Gulf of Mexico. Several attempts by the owner of the oil drilling rig, BP, have been unsuccessful. BP was ordered to release more footage of the remaining oil gushing from the well on the sea floor.

The footage showed the well releasing a plume of brown, rust-colored oily liquid.

BP said it is attempting a so-called top kill operation, in which heavy drilling fluids are injected into the well to stem the flow of oil and gas, followed by using cement to seal the well.

BP said that most of the equipment to carry out the process is on the site.

The company announced it would donate grants to promote tourism in each of the states, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida, that are being affected by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

For Louisiana, the company said it would grant $15 million to help mitigate the results of the disaster.

BP also gave $1 million to the Associated Catholic Charities and the Second Harvest Food Bank, both in New Orleans, to provide emergency food assistance and other social services.

This map shows the 17 main sensitive shoreline monitoring areas that are under inspection of oil contamination and are being protected by the U.S. Coast Guard's Deepwater Horizon Unified Command. (Map by Brandon Coley, Source: U.S. Coast Guard)

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