This is getting ridiculous. I understand the federal government needs to cover the Obama Administration’s incompetent ass by making sure local officials look no more competent, but come on. Shutting down the sand berm dredging to run CYA for the president? Pathetic.

NEW ORLEANS — The federal government is shutting down the dredging that was being done to create protective sand berms in the Gulf of Mexico.

The berms are meant to protect the Louisiana coastline from oil. But the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department has concerns about where the dredging is being done.

Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser, who was one of the most vocal advocates of the dredging plan, has sent a letter to President Barack Obama, pleading for the work to continue.

Nungesser said the government has asked crews to move the dredging site two more miles farther off the coastline.

“Once again, our government resource agencies, which are intended to protect us, are now leaving us vulnerable to the destruction of our coastline and marshes by the impending oil,” Nungesser wrote to Obama. “Furthermore, with the threat of hurricanes or tropical storms, we are being put at an increased risk for devastation to our area from the intrusion of oil.

So what’s wrong with another two miles? Why not simply pick up the equipment and move? Well, that resettlement would take no fewer than 7 days — a full week — before operations could restart. You can see then why the shutdown is a problem.