From: Patrick Courreges
Sent: Wednesday, December 15, 2010 3:13 PM
To: Patrick Courreges
Subject: Coastit Notes from the Department of Natural Resources
Coastit Notes
December 15, 2010
Greetings from Department of Natural Resources Assistant Secretary Lou Buatt. Coastit Notes is a publication of the Office of Coastal Management to inform permit applicants, the public and others of events and items that may impact them or their interaction with our office. This e-document is intended to improve customer service and awareness of OCM works and functions and includes announcements from all OCM divisions as issues arise. If you wish to be removed from this list or have been forwarded this email and wish to be added to the list, please contact Christine Charrier at christine.charrier@la.gov.
Permit
Section Updates
Ø OCM
is responsible for ensuring that proposed projects in the LA coastal zone have
included an assessment of how the proposed project may affect, and may be
affected by, coastal hazards and drainage. Primary coastal hazards
include hurricane impacts (storm surge, wind damage, damage from debris, damage
as debris, etc.) and flooding. Accordingly, this is the reason OCM has
been requesting certification that the project features are built to state and
local wind forces standards and that structures are built above FEMA base flood
elevations applicable to the type of project. For projects involving the
deposition of a significant amount of fill material, a drainage study is
required in order to determine pre-project drainage patterns and assess the
effect the project may have on existing drainage patterns (i.e. to determine
flood risk to neighboring properties that may be caused by the project and risk
to the project property itself).
As
always, OCM encourages the use of pre-application meetings, at which both the
need for and level of detail required in the coastal hazard and drainage
studies can be discussed.
Ø The
Office of Coastal Management has updated the online Coastal Use Permit
Application and the fillable PDF (for paper submission) with the latest version
of the information request for compliance with spill and release
requirements.
The
updates were in response to comments and questions received by the Office of
Coastal Management about the forms. Below are our responses to the
questions and comments submitted in an attempt to clarify our position with
respect to this requirement.
Q. What does “bind that legal entity”
mean?
A: For this
certificate, OCM is seeking the certification of the applicant whomever the
applicant is. In many cases the applicant is a corporation, LLC or some other
entity. Since a legal person such as a corporation or LLC cannot physically
sign a certificate, the entity must have people who can do this on its behalf.
What OCM requires is the signature on the certificate by some person that the
applicant has authorized to act on its behalf. The use of the word entity
was chosen to include Corporations, LLC’s LLP’s and any other form of
juridical person, organization, or even natural persons that may apply for a
permit with our office. The choice of the word ‘bind” was an attempt to use
plain English to express the requirement by OCM that we expect that the
applicant whether it be XYZ corporation or John Q. Applicant, will supply a
person to execute the certificate that possesses the requisite authority to act
on behalf of the applicant irrespective of the form of organization that
comprises the entity, as if the entity signed the document itself.
Q. What does OCM expect with respect to
the requirement that a “…Complete list…” be provided?
A: All OCM expects is the list that the
applicant reasonably believes is complete.
Q. Isn’t OCM charged with management of
the Coastal Zone Management Act, not Spill Prevention or Health and
Safety? Why is OCM requesting this information rather than LDEQ, OC,
State Police, DHH, etc…?
A: DNR/OCM is
charged with the responsibility of managing and protecting coastal resources
through implementation of Louisiana’s Coastal Zone Management Program. We are
not asking for the information to regulate the matters that are regulated by
the other agencies, but merely requesting that applicants demonstrate that they
are in compliance with the relevant agency requirements and regulations related
to the protection of coastal resources, and therefore also in compliance with
OCM’s Coastal Use Guidelines [LB1] [LB1]Our program and its protections rely
upon the fact that other agencies’ regulations are in place. This affirmation
by the applicant will serve to expedite our process of reviewing the plans of
applicants that involve risks that require regulation by multiple agencies to
be permitted, preventing delays by permit review staff from analyzing each
program and verifying with each program that the proposed activity adequately
satisfies that agency’s concerns.
Q. Since the person signing might not
be aware of every applicable requirement, why can’t the certificate be limited
to the knowledge of the person signing?
A: This language was selected to provide
a plain English wording to ensure that when applicants apply to our office to
perform work that contains a significant risk to health and the environment
that they have taken the required preparatory steps. It allows our office to
demonstrate that we have asked whether appropriate safety measures were
considered before a permit was granted. We are not looking for the individual
knowledge of the human person executing the certificate, rather we are
interested in the certificate of the applicant, whomever or whatever that
entity may be, that it (the applicant) is taking all of the required steps to
conduct the proposed activity safely; and that should an accident occur, the
applicant has in place the required contingency plan(s). The requirements and
the authority to request this information are not new, in the past ad hoc
requests may have been made by permit analysts during the permitting process.
OCM has formalized, streamlined and frontloaded these efforts with this uniform
process so all applicants know what is expected and all are treated
equally.
Your comments are always welcome and
will be considered in our continual review and revision process for our
office.
COASTAL
ZONE BOUNDRY STUDY UPDATE
The Office of Coastal Management has completed minor
revisions to its report on the inland boundary of the coastal zone, “Defining
Louisiana’s Coastal Zone: A Science-based Evaluation of the Louisiana
Coastal Zone Inland Boundary,” which was presented to the Coastal Protection
and Restoration Authority at the August 18th meeting. Since
that time OCM has accepted comment from the Authority, attendees at numerous
education and outreach meetings, and other sources. Following evaluation
and consideration of these comments, the document has been updated and is now
ready to be submitted to the CPRA for its final acceptance at an upcoming
meeting. The updated report is also now available at the Coastal Zone
Boundary page of the DNR/OCM website. In addition to the full report, an
executive summary, 24 X 36 in scalable map in PDF format, and summary power
point presentation are also posted on the web site. For further information
you can also contact Terry Howey at OCM, 225.342.5007 or e-mail Terryhowey@la.gov
.
Coastit Notes is a publication of the Office of Coastal Management
to inform permit applicants, the public and others of events and items that may
impact them or their interaction with our office. This e-document is
intended to improve customer service and awareness of OCM works and functions
and includes announcements from all OCM divisions as issues arise. If you
wish to be removed from this list or have been forwarded this email and wish to
be added to the list, please contact Christine Charrier at OCMinfo@la.gov.
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