Gov. Bobby Jindal's much-maligned critique of stimulus money being put on volcano monitoring has once again placed him in an awkward spot.
On Monday, Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-LA, announced that half-a-million dollars in economic recovery funds would be sent to Louisiana for the purposes of upgrading flood-monitoring technology. The cash, which will also help the state improve streamgages and facility maintenance, comes from the same $140 million in Interior Department appropriations that Jindal once criticized.
During his response to President Obama's address before Congress, the Republican Governor ridiculed the use of $140 million in stimulus cash for "something called volcano monitoring." It was a nod to fiscal conservatism. But when Alaska's Mt. Redoubt erupted in late March, and officials on the ground noted that volcano monitoring helped prevent further catastrophe, Jindal stayed largely silent.
Now the issue of stimulus cash going to disaster preparedness is being brought directly to his home state and, once again, Jindal's office isn't talking. The BayouBuzz website could not get the governor's office to say whether or not it he would "accept the monitoring system."
It seems like an extremely difficult political move for the governor to turn down money for flood monitoring in a state whose coastline is under such great risk. Requests for comment from the Huffington Post also went unreturned.