An environmental dispute pitting Louisiana officials against the Obama administration has at least temporarily halted construction of barrier island sand berms intended to keep oil from the BP spill from continuing to foul the state's coastline.

The Interior Department and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ordered the dredging operation east of the mouth of the Mississippi River halted at 6 p.m. Tuesday. A separate dredging operation west of the river is not affected by the dispute.

Tom Strickland, assistant Interior secretary for fish, wildlife and parks, said Wednesday that the federal government acted only after the state failed to comply with restrictions aimed at protecting the Chandeleur Islands, part of the Breton National Wildlife Refuge.

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He said that state officials had begun dredging sand on the east side of the Mississippi River on June 13 in an area south of the site specified in a permit filed with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Federal agencies allowed the dredging to proceed for a week to give the contractor time to assemble a pipeline to reach the agreed-upon dredging site at Hewes Point, at the northern tip of the 50-mile island chain, Strickland said, but at the end of that period the state asked for another 10-day extension.

He said a "well-documented and through scientific analysis" done years ago by the U.S. Geological Survey indicates that dredging sand from the current site for another week could cause serious damage to the islands, which are critical habitat for shorebirds and also protect the mainland from hurricanes.

"If the material is taken from there, it will accelerate the erosion of the islands … and accelerate their eventual destruction," he said.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and Plaquemines Parish President Bill Nungesser had lobbied the feds hard to grant another extension, warning that "precious time" will be lost laying additional pipe and moving the dredging rig.

"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 in a letter sent Tuesday to President Barack 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."

— Mike Brunker