2014 Louisiana Laws
Revised Statutes
TITLE 30 - Minerals, Oil, and Gas and Environmental Quality
RS 30:2000.4 - Powers and duties

§2000.4. Powers and duties

A. The secretary, in consultation with the board as desired, shall:

(1) Develop, implement, and manage a comprehensive state master plan for the Atchafalaya Basin Floodway System, Louisiana Project.

(1.1) Present the annual Basin plan to the legislature each year for its review and approval.

(2) Coordinate state implementation of congressional mandates concerning the Atchafalaya Basin Floodway System, Louisiana Project.

(3) Serve as primary liaison on behalf of the state with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on the Atchafalaya Basin Floodway System, Louisiana Project, including representation of the state in state and federal partnerships, cost and share agreements, and other public and private cooperative endeavors.

(4) Represent the policy and consensus viewpoint of the state at the federal, regional, state, and local levels with respect to the Atchafalaya Basin Floodway System, Louisiana Project.

(5) Enter into partnerships, memoranda of understanding, and cooperative endeavors with state agencies and departments to implement the Basin master plan or annual Basin plan, including:

(a) Department of Wildlife and Fisheries: to operate and maintain wildlife management areas created by the Atchafalaya Basin Floodway System, Louisiana Project, and to plan and monitor projects to improve water quality and fish and wildlife production.

(b) Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism: to operate and maintain tourist information centers and state parks funded by the Atchafalaya Basin Floodway System, Louisiana Project.

(c) Department of Agriculture and Forestry: to monitor environmental easements as required by the Atchafalaya Basin Floodway System, Louisiana Project.

(d) Office of state lands: to monitor and enforce timber harvesting and campsite development on state-owned lands in the basin as required by the Atchafalaya Basin Floodway System, Louisiana Project.

(e) Department of Transportation and Development, Department of Environmental Quality, and Department of Health and Hospitals: to advise the program on departmental operations relating to the Atchafalaya Basin.

(6) Provide recommendations to the legislature and congress with respect to the implementation, management, and funding of the state master plan.

(7) Monitor and seek available federal and private funds and property consistent with the purposes of this Chapter, including funds from matching sources.

(8) Enter into agreements and cooperative endeavors consistent with the purposes of this Chapter.

(9) Conduct meetings, hold hearings, and promulgate rules as necessary and consistent with the purposes of this Chapter.

(10) Appoint advisory committees.

(11) Expend funds consistent with the purposes of this Chapter.

(12) Enter into memoranda of understanding and cooperative endeavors with state, local, and federal public entities consistent with the purposes of this Chapter.

(13) Utilize the services and personnel of state, local, and federal public entities upon mutually agreeable terms and conditions consistent with the purposes of this Chapter.

(14) Seek, accept, and use, in accordance with law, gifts, grants, bequests, and endowments, including real property, for purposes consistent with the powers and duties in this Chapter and take such actions as are necessary to comply with any conditions required for such acceptance.

(15) Administer and enforce the provisions of this Chapter relating to duties and activities of the program and boards, committees, and commissions within the program.

(16) Perform such other acts and duties as necessary to effectuate the purposes of this Chapter.

(17) Comply with the provisions of Part II and Part III of Chapter 1 of Subtitle 1 of Title 39 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950, relative to the operating and capital outlay budgets.

B. The secretary is authorized to:

(1) Acquire one thousand five hundred acres of land in the Atchafalaya Basin for recreation purposes, and to construct new recreation areas, facilities, and water management features.

(2) Conduct environmental easement monitoring.

(3) Operate and maintain public access features.

(4) Enter into cooperative endeavors or other agreements with federal, state, or local departments or agencies to implement the Basin master plan or annual Basin plan.

(5) Enter into a minimum of four cooperative endeavors or agreements with the United States Army Corps of Engineers for projects covering public access, environmental easements, water management, and recreation as provided in the state master plan and in the congressional authorization contained in Public Laws 99-88 of 1985 and 99-662 of 1986.

(6) Use any federal funds that are, or that may become, available as matching funds or on any other basis for any of the projects contained in the annual Basin plan or any other projects authorized for purposes of this Chapter, including federal funds from the Atchafalaya Basin Floodway System, Louisiana Project, Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) funds, and Section 204, Section 206, Section 235, and Section 1135 funds.

(7) Expend funds to implement the annual plan.

(8) Repealed by Acts 2008, No. 606, §2.

(9) In addition to funds appropriated for the program, use any other funds, goods, lands, or services donated or otherwise made available, including federal funds made available to the program.

(10) Enter into cooperative endeavors or agreements with designated local sponsors for the operation and maintenance of capital improvements under the recreation feature of the program.

(11) Negotiate and execute, on behalf of the state, project-specific or programmatic project cooperation agreements or similar agreements with the federal government for those projects that are part of the Atchafalaya Basin Floodway System, Louisiana Project. The executive director shall also be authorized to negotiate and execute such agreements.

Acts 1998, 1st Ex. Sess., No. 3, §1, eff. April 23, 1998; Acts 1999, No. 920, §1, eff. July 6, 1999; Acts 2003, No. 1215, §1, eff. July 3, 2003; Acts 2008, No. 606, §§1, 2.