Sierra Club Delta Chapter started engaging with the 2012
legislature back in the Nov 2011 elections with active support for election of
several state legislators including campaign work for Stephen Ortego, active
support for Jack Montoucet, and formal endorsement of J.P. Morrell of New
Orleans. This year we put on two social events for legislators, one in New
Orleans on March 1, and one in Baton Rouge on March 21. We received great feedback
and recognition among legislators for these events. The purpose of these events
was to get ourselves and allied legislative advocates in the same rooms with
legislators to enjoy a casual evening of food and conversation. Our legislative
lobbyist Darrell Hunt deserves major credit for coming up with the idea and for
doing the cooking at our event in Baton Rouge.
The 2012 regular session of the Louisiana legislature adjourned
on June 4. Legislation passed by both houses of the legislature has now been
considered and either signed into law or vetoed by the Governor. Following are the
results of legislative actions that we have been following:
Oil Industry Legacy lawsuits - A crop of bills on
this issue eventually got boiled down to two that were signed into law. HB 618
Abramson (Act 754) and SB 555 Adlee (Act 779) together provide for limited
liability for environmental damage such that a party elect to admission of
liability for environmental damage and responsibility for implementing the most
feasible plan to evaluate and or remediate damage to regulatory standards. This
would be done according to a plan reviewed by Department of Agriculture and
Forestry, the Department of Environmental Quality, and the Department of
Natural Resources. The legislation contains timelines, provision for public
hearing and waiver of right to indemnification against punitive damages in certain
circumstances. The legislation appears to give the oil industry what it wanted
at the outset, which was a limitation on liability for cleanup costs when plans
are developed and approved by relevant state agencies. Landowners still retain the right to sue for
damages. The real effect of the laws will be determined in the course of
litigation sure to follow.
Water Issues - SB 436 by Sen Gerald Long, signed into law by
the governor as Act 784 requires the Sabine River Authority to obtain
legislative committee and local government approval for out-of-state water
sales. The effect of the law will be to ban out of state water sales by
the Sabine River Authority and by implication all water authorities in the
state. The State of Louisiana has never had a consistent plan how to deal with
in state or out of state sale of water. A related bill by Sen Long is SB 495, signed
into law by the governor as Act 471 It revises powers and duties of the Ground
Water Resources Commission to include surface water, not just groundwater. Louisiana
does not have comprehensive water law to provide guidance for water management so
proposed large sales are handled on a case by case basis by Department of
Natural Resources and/or the legislature.
HB 957 by Rep John Bel Edwards which provides for the
disclosure of the composition of hydraulic fracturing fluids was signed into
law by the governor as Act 812. This legislation writes into law and strengthens
requirements of rules recently promulgated by DNR Office of Conservation. The law
is comparable to laws on the books in other nearby states such as Texas and
Arkansas where hydraulic fracturing for natural gas is occurring.
SB 439 by A.G. Crowe authorizing certain parishes to create
a conservation district never was heard in its first hearing. The purpose of
the bill was to set up an authority that could receive penalty funds for
settlement of the Temple Inland paper mill toxic spill to the Pearl River, and
administer such funds for the benefit of water quality on the river. The bill
was opposed by the governor’s office because it would set up a local authority
whose jurisdiction and powers would conflict with state agencies such as
Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.
SB 450 Walsworth to prohibit dumping of electronic waste
such as computers, televisions, cellular phones and other electronic devices into
landfills became Senate Resolution 83 which urges the Department of Environmental
Quality to study the establishment of a recycling and collection system for
electronic waste and report its findings to the legislature.
HCR 49 by Stephen Ortego requesting the Louisiana Dept of
Wildlife and Fisheries to study Bayou Teche for inclusion in the State Historic
and Scenic Rivers System successfully passed both house and senate as a
concurrent resolution. Department of Wildlife and Fisheries will hold public
hearings and make a determination as to whether inclusion of Bayou Teche should
be formally proposed in legislation next year. Delta Chapter is working with
local groups to build support in communities along Bayou Teche.
Other legislative actions of interest:
HCR 89 was a proposed concurrent resolution by Rep Stuart
Bishop stating that United Nations Agenda 21 is a comprehensive plan of extreme
environmentalism, social engineering, and global political control that was
initiated at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development
(UNCED) held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1992, and resolving that the
Legislature of Louisiana recognizes the destructive and insidious nature of the
United Nations Agenda 21. Delta Chapter recognized early in the legislative
process that this was an attack on the principle of sustainable development. We
activated our network of legislative allies to voice our opposition and launched
a phone call campaign to the office of the bill sponsor and to members of the
first legislative committee that would hear this resolution. The resolution was
never put on the agenda and so was stopped in its first committee.
Senator J. P. Morrell Dem district 3, New Orleans (formally
endorsed for election by Delta Chapter) proposed three pieces of legislation to
protect children from exposure to lead in buildings. The laws were SB 200, 201
and 211. They require owners of certain child-occupied facilities to conduct an
inspection for the presence of lead hazards and to disclose results of testing
for lead, identify lead hazards and describe lead abatement activities. One of
the bills requires state and local agencies engaged in lead hazard reduction
activities to publish on their Internet website the standards related to those
activities. All three bills were passed by the legislature and signed into law
by the governor.
Representative Eddie Lambert tried again to pass a Louisiana
Beverage Container Law (HB 1046) that would set up a nickel deposit for plastic
bottles and aluminum cans. The bill if successful would be a huge step in
de-littering Louisiana roadsides, woods and waterways. Lobbyists for grocers,
liquor dealers and soft drink distributors were out in strong opposition to the
legislation because they don’t want to deal with the returned bottles. The
proposed law would have created a large state program which would be
administratively complex but would pay for itself at projected rates of bottle
redemption. The proposed legislation was killed in its first committee after
extensive debate.
Contact for further information: Woody Martin, Chapter Chair
at hrmartin2sc@gmail.com
