Office of Conservation

Teaming up in Washington for Coastal Efforts in State

Coastal parish officials across the state were invited last week to join state Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Secretary Scott Angelle for briefings on coastal matters with members of Louisiana’s congressional delegation in Washington, D.C.

A number of local government officials from Louisiana were already participating in the NACo’s (National Association of County Officials) Legislative Conference held March 2-5 in the nation’s capitol. While attending the conference, Secretary Angelle and parish presidents of PACE (Parishes Against Coastal Erosion) were able to spend time discussing coastal restoration issues with U.S. Senators Mary Landrieu and David Vitter, as well as Congressmen Richard Baker and Charles Melancon. In fact, staff representatives from all of the state’s congressional offices were able to participate in the discussions. Secretary Angelle said, “This opportunity presented itself to us and the timing was perfect to reach out to our senators and representatives while we were all involved in the legislative NACo meetings.”

Additionally, both Secretary Angelle and DNR Coastal Engineering Administrator Chris Knotts made formal presentations to members of NACo’s Energy Subcommittee on Friday, March 4th.

Councilman Ram Ramchandran of St. Charles parish serves as chairman for NACo’s Energy subcommittee. “I want to applaud the DNR Secretary and this administration for prioritizing this issue and for reaching out to this level of professionals, environmental leaders, and local government officials from all across the country,” Ramchandran commented. According to Secretary Angelle, “we wanted to make an impact on those officials that may not have been familiar with our issues and so we adapted a presentation entitled ‘national implications of Louisiana’s coastal land loss and current restoration strategies.’” He said the subcommittee members in attendance provided extremely positive feedback afterwards.

“While visiting the state late last year, a number of NACo officials expressed support for our coastal efforts in Louisiana but we seized the moment to capture even more of the group’s membership,” Angelle said.

“This was very productive for the Coastal Caucus members and for PACE to sit with our federal leaders and communicate,” remarked Police Jury Coastal Caucus chairman and Plaquemines Parish President Benny Rousselle. Joining Angelle and Rouselle for the briefings were coastal area parish presidents of Cameron, Iberia, Lafourche, St. Bernard, St. Charles, St John the Baptist, St. Martin, and St. Mary. Orleans parish and Jefferson parish officials also attended the briefings including the Mayor of Grand Isle.

Helping to bring the state, local, and federal officials and key administrators and staffers together for these meetings was not so easy to accomplishment but we managed quite successfully with assistance from Stephanie Leger, the new director of state/federal relations for the Blanco administration, Angelle noted.