Bad Idea: Louisiana Looks to Spend BP Cleanup Money on a Big Party Instead

As another oil spill poisons the waters off Louisiana less then a year after the BP Deepwater Horizon spill fouled the Gulf of Mexico for months, you'd think Louisiana state officials would be pretty concerned with how best to clean up the multiple environmental disasters literally on their horizon. You'd be wrong.

Instead, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal wants to throw a big party for the state's bicentennial celebrations, which begin September 2011. According to the Associated Press, Jindal has asked Lieutenant Governor Jay Dardenne to spend some of the money Dardenne's office received from BP after the oil spill—money to be used for, you know, the cleanup efforts—on the 200-years party. Dardenne oversees the Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism, which got $6.5 million for spill-related advertising, not, one would think, for Jindal's celebration plans.

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Thankfully, Dardenne has said he'd like the bicentennial party money to come out of the regular state funds.

Amazingly, this story comes on the heels of news that Louisiana recently asked for emergency funds from BP to repair important wetlands that were still in disrepair from Deepwater Horizon. BP refused.

photo (cc) via Flickr user lagohsep