With the prospects dimming for capping the Deepwater Horizon oil well blowout anytime soon, federal, state and local officials are actively assessing a plan to quickly and massively shore up the battered barrier islands that protect the Louisiana marshlands.

The plan, which local officials hope to present to the White House within days, calls for building up almost 70 miles of barrier islands by dredging sand and mud from a mile out into the Gulf of Mexico and depositing it onto the outer shores of the islands.

Read the entire Washington Post article here.