ENROLLED
2020 Second Extraordinary Session
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOL UTION NO. 7
BY REPRESENTATIVES COUSSAN, BOURRIAQUE, BUTLER, CARRIER, CORMIER,
LYONS, AND MINCEY AND SENATOR HENSGENS
A CONCURRENT RESOL UTION
To memorialize the United States Congress and the Louisiana Congressional delegation to
take such actions as are necessary to require the Federal Emergency Management
Agency (FEMA) to more efficiently coordinate the removal of dislocated oilfield
equipment after natural disasters in Louisiana.
WHEREAS, hurricanes that blow through coastal Louisiana, particularly those that
come ashore as a Category 3 or higher, such as Hurricane Rita in 2005 and particularly
Hurricane Laura in 2020, leave behind destruction and dislocation of people, homes, and
equipment; and
WHEREAS, Hurricane Laura is estimated to have caused between $4 billion and $12
billion in damages mostly to Louisiana and mostly in the coastal areas of Southwest
Louisiana; and
WHEREAS, a component of that damage involves the dislocation of equipment from
the oil and gas industry located in coastal Louisiana, including storage tanks, drums, pipe
segments, and other equipment used in the oil patch, equipment that is picked up by the wind
and water of the hurricane and dropped elsewhere in the coast; and
WHEREAS, nearly eighty percent of the land in coastal Louisiana is privately-owned
land, so much of the dislocated oil and gas equipment lands on privately-held property; and
WHEREAS, some of the dislocated oilfield equipment contains materials that can
cause pollution if the tanks and drums are damaged through the dislocation and could also
be the cause of marine accidents when they are located in waterways where boat captains
do not expect to find such hazards; and
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WHEREAS, initial efforts to locate and identify equipment displaced by a hurricane
include an attempt to identify the owner of the equipment, notify the owner that their
equipment has been found, and request that the owner remove their equipment from another
person's property; and
WHEREAS, the second step in attempting to address the dislocated equipment is the
Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LaDEQ), the Louisiana State Police, and
the Louisiana Oil Spill Coordinator's Office (LOSCO) working in cooperation with the
United States Coast Guard and, under the auspices of FEMA, working to remove any tank
or drum that could be the source of pollution in the marsh or could be the cause of marine
accidents involving boats and displaced tanks or drums; and
WHEREAS, after sources of pollution and immediate hazards are removed by
LaDEQ, State Police, and LOSCO, the Louisiana Department of Transportation and
Development and the Louisiana National Guard, again under the auspices of the FEMA,
identify the location and nature of additional tanks, drums, and other oilfield equipment
dislodged by the hurricane so removal plans can be developed; and
WHEREAS, plans for removal of dislodged equipment that is neither hazardous nor
polluting include a development of a timeline and an assessment of the potential damage to
the marsh that could occur as a result of removal efforts versus the damage that the item may
cause by its relocation to the spot; and
WHEREAS, because the process is a bifurcated process, requiring removal of
hazardous or polluting items first and then removal of the remainder of the equipment, many
times a situation arises that results in a displaced tank being bypassed on the way to remove
a hazardous or polluting tank when removing all the equipment at the same time would be
more efficient, more cost-effective, and require less overall time to remove all the dislodged
equipment; and
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WHEREAS, the FEMA practices and procedures do not allow the removal of
nonhazardous, non-polluting items prior to or at the same time as removal of other displaced
oilfield tanks, drums, and other equipment, thereby elongating the process and increasing
the damage to the private property located in the marshes of coastal Louisiana.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
memorialize the United States Congress to take such actions as are necessary to require the
Federal Emergency Management Agency to more efficiently coordinate the removal of
dislocated oilfield equipment after natural disasters in Louisiana.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
presiding officers of the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Congress of the
United States of America and to each member of the Louisiana congressional delegation.
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
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