SLS 20RS-339 ORIGINAL
2020 Regular Session
SENATE CONCURRENT RESOL UTION NO. 7
BY SENATORS HEWITT, BERNARD, CATHEY, CLOUD, CORTEZ, FESI, HENRY,
HENSGENS, JOHNS, MCMATH, MILLIGAN, ROBERT MILLS,
MIZELL, PEACOCK, REESE, TALBOT, WHITE AND WOMACK
AND REPRESENTATIVES BEAULLIEU, BUTLER, DEVILLIER,
EMERSON, HORTON, MCCORMI CK AND MIGUEZ
COASTAL RESOURCES. To urge and request certain officials and local governments to
dismiss coastal lawsuits.
1 A CONCURRENT RESOL UTION
2 To urge and request the local officials in Cameron Parish, Jefferson Parish, Plaquemines
3 Parish, St. Bernard Parish, St. John the Baptist Parish, Vermilion Parish, and the city
4 of New Orleans to dismiss the forty-three coastal lawsuits that have been filed
5 against over two-hundred large and small oil and natural gas companies in Louisiana.
6 WHEREAS, since the Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA) was enacted by the
7 Louisiana Legislature in 1980, the state of Louisiana has issued more than thirty thousand
8 coastal use permits to authorize and encourage the safe and responsible development of oil
9 and natural gas resources throughout Louisiana's working coast; and
10 WHEREAS, from 1980 through 2013, local governing bodies collected millions of
11 dollars in tax revenues generated by these production activities and never sought to assert
12 enforcement authority over these operations, which are clearly defined in R.S. 49:214.25(A)
13 as "uses of state concern" that fall exclusively under the jurisdiction of state government
14 agencies; and
15 WHEREAS, since 2013, Cameron Parish, Jefferson Parish, Plaquemines Parish, St.
16 Bernard Parish, St. John the Baptist Parish, Vermilion Parish, and the city of New Orleans
17 have contracted with private legal counsel to improperly bring unprecedented enforcement
18 actions against the oil and natural gas industry; and
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SLS 20RS-339 ORIGINAL
1 WHEREAS, actions such as these, taken by private legal counsel on behalf of local
2 governments, violate the original intent of the Louisiana Legislature when the CZMA was
3 enacted; and
4 WHEREAS, the state alone is vested with the authority to issue and regulate coastal
5 use permits concerning uses of state concern, as defined by R.S. 49:214.25(A)(1), and the
6 state has the sole authority to bring enforcement over these permits under CZMA; and
7 WHEREAS, local governments are limited in their ability to bring enforcement
8 actions under CZMA as it relates to issues of local concern as defined by R.S.
9 49:214.25(A)(2); and
10 WHEREAS, since the inception of the CZMA, over forty years ago, local
11 government entities have never sought to assert such inappropriate widespread action over
12 state issued coastal use permits in a manner that violates the original intent of the CZMA;
13 and
14 WHEREAS, over six years of litigation has provided no benefit for Louisiana's
15 precious coastline; and
16 WHEREAS, these lawsuits consume limited judicial resources and put our state at
17 a competitive disadvantage when it comes to attracting jobs and investment; and
18 WHEREAS, for nearly a century, the safe, responsible production of oil and natural
19 gas in Louisiana has helped fuel our state's economy and our nation's energy independence;
20 and
21 WHEREAS, today, the development of Louisiana's vast oil and natural gas resources
22 supports over two-hundred sixty thousand high paying jobs and contributes more than two
23 billion dollars in annual state revenues; and
24 WHEREAS, Louisiana oil and natural gas companies also generated more than
25 two-hundred thirty million dollars in direct funding for coastal restoration and hurricane
26 protection projects over the last five years; and
27 WHEREAS, the production of oil and natural gas is essential to the economy and
28 well-being of Louisiana and the United States, and addressing the critical energy and
29 environmental needs of the state and the country requires cooperation instead of
30 unproductive lawsuits.
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SLS 20RS-339 ORIGINAL
1 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
2 urge and request the local officials in Cameron Parish, Jefferson Parish, Plaquemines Parish,
3 St. Bernard Parish, St. John the Baptist Parish, Vermilion Parish, and the city of New
4 Orleans to dismiss the coastal zone lawsuits, pursuant to La. Code of Civil Procedure Art.
5 1671 concerning voluntary dismissal.
6 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
7 parish president, district attorney, and council or police jury of Cameron Parish, Jefferson
8 Parish, Plaquemines Parish, St. Bernard Parish, St. John the Baptist Parish, Vermilion Parish,
9 and to the mayor, district attorney, and city council of the city of New Orleans.
The original instrument and the following digest, which constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument, were prepared by Tyler S. McCloud.
DIGEST
SCR 7 Original 2020 Regular Session Hewitt
Urges and requests the local officials in Cameron Parish, Jefferson Parish, Plaquemines
Parish, St. Bernard Parish, St. John the Baptist Parish, Vermilion Parish, and the city of New
Orleans to dismiss the coastal zone lawsuits, pursuant to La. Code of Civil Procedure Art.
1671 concerning voluntary dismissal.
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