ENROLLED
2016 Regular Session
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOL UTION NO. 110
BY REPRESENTATIVE ROBBY CARTER
A CONCURRENT RESOL UTION
To urge and request the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, in cooperation with the
Department of Natural Resources, to study the effects of certain withdrawals from
rivers and river segments in the natural and scenic river program and to report the
findings to the House Committee on Natural Resources and Environment and the
Senate Committee on Natural Resources.
WHEREAS, it is the constitutional duty of the legislature to enact laws to protect,
conserve, and replenish the natural resources of the state, including air and water, and the
healthful, scenic, historic, and aesthetic quality of the environment, insofar as possible and
consistent with the health, safety, and welfare of the people; and
WHEREAS, in furtherance of that duty the Legislature of Louisiana enacted the
Louisiana Scenic Rivers Act to preserve, protect, develop, reclaim, and enhance the
wilderness qualities, scenic beauties, and ecological regime of the unique and diverse free-
flowing rivers, streams, and bayous for the present and future benefit of Louisiana citizens;
and
WHEREAS, the system of natural and scenic rivers is administered for the purpose
of preserving aesthetic, scenic, recreational, fish, wildlife, ecological, archaeological,
geological, botanical, and other natural and physical features and resources found along
these streams or segments thereof; and
WHEREAS, Louisiana has the largest natural and scenic stream system in the nation
including more than eighty rivers or river segments; and
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WHEREAS, beginning in the latter half of the last decade this state experienced an
oil and gas exploration and production boom with the economic viability of using hydraulic
fracturing stimulation operations to produce hydrocarbons from formations such as the
Haynesville Shale and the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale; and
WHEREAS, while this boom brought welcomed economic prosperity for workers,
property owners, and the state, it also brought the need for massive amounts of water for
these operations; and
WHEREAS, the United States Geological Survey estimates an average Haynesville
Shale well requires five million seven hundred thousand gallons of water; and
WHEREAS, there has been occasion where operators of hydraulic fracturing
stimulations operations obtained the required water from a river or river segment designated
as a natural and scenic river.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
urge and request the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, in cooperation with the
Department of Natural Resources, to study the effects of withdrawals for oil and gas
operations from rivers and river segments in the natural and scenic river program and to
report the findings to the House Committee on Natural Resources and Environment and the
Senate Committee on Natural Resources on or before March 1, 2017.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a suitable copy of this Resolution be transmitted
to the secretaries of the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries and the Department of Natural
Resources.
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF LOUISIANA
APPROVED:
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