NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Showing growing impatience with the federal government, Louisiana's top lawyer says the state will proceed with plans to protect its wetlands from the Gulf oil spill - with or without permission from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The action by Attorney General Buddy Caldwell could set up a court fight over where federal jurisdiction ends and state
authority begins as officials scramble to buffer the state's delicate coastline. Millions of gallons oil have spilled into the
Gulf of Mexico since the Deepwater Horizon disaster last month, impacting about 60 miles of Louisiana's coast.