Jindal's sand berms to block oil were a $200 million waste of money

A fiscal conservative, is he?

The big set of sand barriers erected by Louisiana's governor to protect the coastline at the height of the Gulf oil spill was criticized by staff with the presidential spill commission Thursday as a colossal, $200 million waste of BP's money so far.

Hardly any oil ever reached the berms, government documents obtained by The Associated Press show.

Gov. Bobby Jindal, who pushed the venture over the objections of scientists and federal agencies, has strongly defended it. And despite the commission's scathing report, he plans to move ahead with the project, though with some changes to make it more beneficial.