Office of the Secretary

DEQ, DNR announce assistant secretaries

BATON ROUGE – The Departments of Environmental Quality and Natural Resources announced today that the agencies are making changes at the assistant secretary position. DNR Secretary Scott Angelle announced Louis Buatt is taking the position of Assistant Secretary of the Office of Coastal Restoration and Management. DEQ Secretary Harold Leggett said that Paul Miller has been named as Assistant Secretary of the Office of Environmental Assessment, the position Buatt is leaving.

Miller is an environmental engineer who has a Bachelor of Science from Louisiana Tech. He has more than 11 years of experience in the electric utility industry, six years of experience at DEQ and has worked in the timber and wood products industry. In total, he has nearly 30 years of professional experience in various environmental fields.

“Paul is going to play an important role in this assistant secretary position, and a large part of that role will be in the air-quality arena,” Leggett said. “Paul has experience in this area, and his involvement in recent DEQ air-quality initiatives has been invaluable. His experience in state government and private industry will be a key to the Office of Environmental Assessment, and to DEQ as a whole.”

Buatt has more than 14 years of state service. In addition to his position as assistant secretary, Buatt has also been general counsel for DEQ, an attorney for the Office of Environmental Assessment and, prior to his state service, he was in private practice in Lake Charles and in Houston. Buatt has a Bachelor of Science in geology from Louisiana State University, a Juris Doctorate from Southern University and a LL. M., advanced law degree, in Energy and Environmental Law from the University of Houston.

Angelle said Buatt will be a leader in coastal management for the state.

The Jindal administration considers the loss of our coastal lands as the largest environmental problem facing the state. Angelle said, “I believe Lou is perfectly suited with his years of environmental experience to play a major role in reversing this problem as a member of the coastal team.”