SLS 21RS-289 ORIGINAL
2021 Regular Session
SENATE CONCURRENT RESOL UTION NO. 34
BY SENATOR HEWITT
COASTAL RESOURCES. Requests the Department of Natural Resources, office of coastal
management, to review permitting cycle times and to make recommendations to expedite
the permitting process.
1 A CONCURRENT RESOL UTION
2 To urge and request the Department of Natural Resources, office of coastal management, to
3 review permitting cycle times and to report recommendations on regulatory and
4 statutory changes to expedite the permitting process.
5 WHEREAS, since the Coastal Zone Management Act was enacted by the Louisiana
6 Legislature in 1978, the state of Louisiana has issued more than thirty thousand coastal use
7 permits to authorize and encourage the safe and responsible development of oil and natural
8 gas resources throughout Louisiana's working coast; and
9 WHEREAS, coastal use permit timelines in the coastal zone of Louisiana range from
10 four to thirteen months while in neighboring Texas the same process takes significantly less
11 time; and
12 WHEREAS, Louisiana has no mandate to cap the amount of time the U. S. Army
13 Corps of Engineers has to process any permits; and
14 WHEREAS, Louisiana agencies that receive permits from the U. S. Army Corps of
15 Engineers are under no mandated timeline and have no ability to expedite the response; and
16 WHEREAS, Louisiana has multiple state agencies involved in the permitting
17 process; and
18 WHEREAS, oil and gas exploration in Louisiana is extremely inhibited due to the
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SLS 21RS-289 ORIGINAL
1 lengthy permitting process; and
2 WHEREAS, delays in permitting often kill or otherwise adversely affect projects due
3 to the impacts on the project economics; and
4 WHEREAS, Louisiana projects often compete with projects in Texas which have
5 quicker permitting cycles and a fee schedule for expedited processing; and
6 WHEREAS, today, the development of Louisiana's vast oil and natural resources
7 support over two-hundred sixty thousand high paying jobs and contributes more than two
8 billion in annual state revenues; and
9 WHEREAS, Louisiana oil and natural gas companies also generated more than
10 two-hundred thirty million dollars in direct funding for coastal restoration and hurricane
11 protection projects over the last five years; and
12 WHEREAS, the production of oil and natural gas is essential to the economy and
13 well-being of Louisiana and the United States, and addressing the critical energy needs of
14 the state and country requires cooperation.
15 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
16 urge and request the Department of Natural Resources, office of coastal management, to
17 review permitting cycle times over the previous five years, review permitting cycle times
18 in Texas, and to report to the Legislature no later than December 31, 2021, with findings and
19 specific recommendations of regulatory and statutory changes to expedite the permitting
20 process.
21 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
22 secretary of the Department of Natural Resources.
The original instrument and the following digest, which constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument, were prepared by Tyler S. McCloud.
DIGEST
SCR 34 Original 2021 Regular Session Hewitt
Requests the Department of Natural Resources, office of coastal management, to review
permitting cycle times over the previous five years, review permitting cycle times in Texas,
and to report to the Legislature no later than December 31, 2021, with findings and specific
recommendations of regulatory and statutory changes to expedite the permitting process.
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