Office of Coastal Management

VAUGHAN TAPPED TO HEAD STATE'S COASTAL OFFICE

Governor Murphy J. "Mike" Foster, Jr. has chosen Katherine G. Vaughan as Assistant Secretary of the Office of Coastal Restoration and Management (OCRM). Department of Natural Resources Secretary Jack Caldwell, to whom Vaughan will report, said "Vaughan is knowledgeable and tough, a good friend, and a fighter and defender for our coast."

Vaughan, a partner in the law firm of Milling, Benson, Woodward, Hillyer, Pierson and Miller in New Orleans, is leaving her law practice and will become the first woman Assistant Secretary in the department's history. "I am extremely proud to serve in this capacity, the Foster administration, and the people of Louisiana." Vaughan noted.

Vaughan is a cum laude graduate of Tulane University School of Law. She has also studied Comparative Land and Natural Resources and International Law in Mexico City and Administrative Law and Procedure at the University of Exeter in England. She serves on the House of Delegates of the Louisiana State Bar, is a past member of the Executive Committee of the New Orleans Bar Association, and is certified by the Louisiana Supreme Court as an attorney mediator.

She has worked throughout her career in the natural resources field, first with an oil and gas company and then in her legal practice. She has extensive knowledge of state and federal regulations relating to oil and gas and natural resources, having been an advisor on land use, state mineral law, environmental compliance, lease and operating rights, remediation and site restoration. In the course of her practice she has worked with senior management of major corporations, engineers, geologists, corporate planners, and accountants, as well as with environmental specialists, biologists and federal and state environmental officials.

Governor Murphy J. "Mike " Foster, Jr. said,"Already this administration has begun to demonstrate its commitment to coastal restoration by obtaining legislative appropriation of $7.8 million to obtain more than $20 million of federal coastal restoration funds. I am confident that Ms. Vaughan and Secretary Caldwell, Working with all authorized agencies, will continue this commitment."

DNR's Office of Coastal Restoration and Management is responsible for the state's wetlands resources, implements Louisiana's Coastal Wetlands Conservation and Restoration Plan, and has regulatory authority over coastal resources.

Editors: For more information, contact the DNR Office of Public Information at (504) 342-8955.