| Areas of Our Concern |
Flood waters are regularly kept at bay as a result of very efficient and effective maintenance programs regulated by our state's levee districts, and a long-standing agreement with a State of Arkansas Levee District. An integral part of the levee maintenance program is the authority granted by Louisiana State Law to the various levee commissions to issue permits for work proposed at, and in the vicinity of, levee systems. Serving as regulatory authorities, levee districts receive and review permit requests for projects from individuals, corporations, and governmental agencies. On completion of the review, appropriate approval in the form of a permit is issued or denied.
Before any levee board permit is issued, the applicant's project request is reviewed by a network of other governmental agencies. Those agencies review the applicant's proposal for any adverse impacts to maintenance or integrity of the nearby levee system or its associated drainage. They then make a recommendation to the levee board for the acceptance, conditional acceptance, or denial of the requested permit. The Water Resources Permit Advisory Unit functions as one of those project review and reporting agencies referenced above.
This Office is mandated by Louisiana State Law to serve in an engineering advisory capacity to the state's numerous levee boards. Under Title 38 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes, we are directed to review and issue an advisory letter to the appropriate Regulatory Authority. Although the State of Arkansas Levee District is not governed by Louisiana State Government, due to its close proximity to our state and it's possible impact on the Mississippi River Levee System, we coordinate all relative levee maintenance activities with them in the same manner as we conduct our operations with our very own Levee Boards.
There is an ongoing controversy between private interests and the government over the definition of wetlands, however for our purposes we will vaguely define wetlands as areas subjected to frequent submersions.
The Water Resources Permit Advisory Unit is specifically concerned with drainage within wetlands. This Office serves in an advisory capacity and reviews varied permit requests for proposed projects that could pose an adverse impact on area drainage. We review wetlands permit requests submitted to all of the (5) five Corps of Engineers districts presently operating in Louisiana, as well as to a host of other Federal, State, and Local governmental regulatory authorities who regulate projects impacting wetlands. We either recommend the approval, conditional approval, or denial of a proposed permit request based on our interpretation of the proposed project's impact to area drainage, adherence to State Law, or compliance with long adopted departmental policy.
This office is concerned with any type of work that may impede navigation on any navigable waterway. For example, under Louisiana State Law, any company wishing to install a pipeline across any Louisiana State water bottom must first acquire a pipeline right-of-way grant from the Louisiana State Land Office. In order for the company to acquire a pipeline right-of-way grant from the State Land Office, the company must obtain a Letter of No Objection for the proposed pipeline installation from the Water Resources Permit Advisory Unit, as mandated by Louisiana State Law. Although this Office is not in the business of approving right-of-way, our review of the proposed project and its alignment directly affects issuance of a right-of-way grant by the State Land Office. Whether or not a permit request involves a submarine or aerial crossing of a navigable waterway, that permit request may also relate to the levee and drainage concerns of this Office.
Quite often aspects of a proposed project that may relate to the specific concerns of one regulatory or reporting agency, are similarly and simultaneously reviewed by a separate agency for different concerns. This process may appear as a duplication of efforts, but review of a request by different agencies with similar concerns, and motivated by different purposes, actually may serve to enhance the permit review process and to better serve the Public. One good example of this might be the cooperation of the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources - Coastal Management Division and the Corps of Engineers for permit requests located within Louisiana's coastal plain. Another example is the cooperation of the Corps of Engineers, Levee Boards, and the Water Resources Permit Advisory Unit for permit requests in the vicinity of levee systems. Many governmental agencies, whether they act in a regulatory capacity or that of an advising agency, act in concert to provide a quality review to permit requests and to better assure the Public's interests and safety.