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Regular Session, 2012 ENROLLED
SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTI ON NO. 31
BY SENATORS CROWE, DONAHUE AND NEVERS AND REPRESENTATIVES
ARNOLD, BURFORD, HENRY BURNS, TIM BURNS, GAROFALO,
GISCLAIR, GUILLORY, HARRIS, HOFFMANN, HOLLIS, HUNTER,
KLECKLEY, LIGI, LORUSSO, RI CHARD, SCHRODER,
SEABAUGH, SIMON, ST. GERMAIN AND WHITNEY
A CONCURRENT RESOLUTI ON
To memorialize the Congress of the United States to urge the United States Army Corps of
Engineers, New Orleans District, to follow the recommendations of the Louisiana
Department of Natural Resources, office of coastal management, as to the
implementation of fair and reasonable regulations on wetland habitat assessment and
compensation for wetland impacts.
WHEREAS, pursuant to federal law, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers enforces
regulations regarding Louisiana's wetlands; and
WHEREAS, when development is proposed in a wetlands area, the developer is
required to pay a mitigation fee that is used to preserve other wetland areas; and
WHEREAS, much of coastal Louisiana is under the purview of the U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers, New Orleans District (USACE-NO District), and subject to that district's
application of regulations pertaining to the assessment of wetland habitat and the designation
of applicable compensatory credits for impacts to wetlands; and
WHEREAS, the cost of mitigation fees assessed by the USACE-NO District greatly
increase the cost for capital projects; and
WHEREAS, the USACE-NO District has promulgated rules, also known as the
Modified Charleston Method, pertaining to the assessment of wetland habitat and the
computation of compensatory credits for wetland impacts from public safety and economic
development projects; and
WHEREAS, the Modified Charleston Method significantly changes mitigation
requirements for unavoidable wetland projects, and greatly increases the cost and hinders
the ability to build public works projects which protect the public and facilitate the growth SCR NO. 31 ENROLLED
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of our local economy; and
WHEREAS, the Modified Charleston Method has been criticized as an unreasonable
and unwarranted change to the USACE-NO District mitigation policies by numerous public
officials, many of Louisiana's congressional delegation, government and regulatory bodies,
including the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources, office of coastal management;
and
WHEREAS, in public comments in response to Modified Charleston Method rules,
the office of coastal management criticized the method for not being based on actual
scientific data and for failing to certify the method as a model which is adequate to assess
habitat impacts on the USACE-NO District's own civil works program; and
WHEREAS, the office of coastal management has further stated that the Modified
Charleston Method must be revised as the effects of the current method language will be to
impose excessive mitigation requirements and exponential penalties on public works and
infrastructure projects while not providing enough credit for marsh creation projects or
insuring that sufficient mitigation banking opportunities are available.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
support the comments of the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources, office of coastal
management, calling for the USACE-NO District to implement changes to the Modified
Charleston Method to address the punitive nature of the calculations utilized in the method
to quantify compensatory mitigation credits, to provide for fair and adequate credit for marsh
creation projects, to cease the use of the cumulative impact factor on the adverse impacts
table of the Modified Charleston Method, and to revise the Modified Charleston Method to
insure the fair valuation of habitat creation and wetland impact which does not unreasonably
burden the regulated public.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby urge
the USACE-NO District to heed the criticisms of the Louisiana Department of Natural
Resources and the numerous government officials, regulatory bodies and private concerns
with respect to the Modified Charleston Method, its stymieing impact on public works and
economic development projects; and to follow the mandates of Section 404 of the Clean
Water Act, which requires that compensatory mitigation be practicable and, thereof, to take SCR NO. 31 ENROLLED
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all actions necessary to revise the Modified Charleston Method to provide adequate and
defensible compensation calculation for required mitigation for unavoidable impacts to
wetlands.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana memorializes the
United States Congress to urge the United States Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans
District, to follow the recommendations of the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources,
office of coastal management, as to the implementation of fair and reasonable regulations
on wetland habitat assessment and compensation for wetland impacts.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution shall be transmitted
to the secretary of the United States Senate and the clerk of the United States House of
Representatives and to each member of the Louisiana delegation to the United States
Congress.
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES