Article IX, Louisiana Constitution

Natural Resources and Environment; Public Policy

The natural resources of the state, including air and water, and the healthful, scenic, historic, and esthetic quality of the environment shall be protected, conserved, and replenished insofar as possible and consistent with the health, safety, and welfare of the people. The legislature shall enact laws to implement this policy.^[1]

Natural Gas

(A) Public Policy; Regulation. Natural gas is declared to be affected with a public interest. Notwithstanding any provision of this constitution relative to the powers and duties of the Public Service Commission, the legislature shall provide by law for regulation of natural gas by the regulatory authority it designates. It may designate the Public Service Commission as the regulatory authority.

(B) Pipelines. No intrastate natural gas pipeline or gas gathering line shall be connected with an interstate natural gas pipeline, and no interstate natural gas pipeline shall be connected with an intrastate natural gas pipeline, without a certificate of public convenience and necessity issued as provided by law after application for the connection and hearing thereon.^[1]

Alienation of Water Bottoms

The legislature shall neither alienate nor authorize the alienation of the bed of a navigable water body, except for purposes of reclamation by the riparian owner to recover land lost through erosion. This Section shall not prevent the leasing of state lands or water bottoms for mineral or other purposes. Except as provided in this Section, the bed of a navigable water body may be reclaimed only for public use.^[1]

Reservation of Mineral Rights; Prescription

(A) Reservation of Mineral Rights. The mineral rights on property sold by the state shall be reserved, except when the owner or person having the right to redeem buys or redeems property sold or adjudicated to the state for taxes. The mineral rights on land, contiguous to and abutting navigable waterbottoms reclaimed by the state through the implementation and construction of coastal restoration projects shall be reserved, except when the state and the landowner having the right to reclaim or recover the land have agreed to the disposition of mineral rights, in accordance with the conditions and procedures provided by law.

(B) Prescription. Lands and mineral interests of the state, of a school board, or of a levee district shall not be lost by prescription except as authorized in Paragraph C.

(C) Exception. The legislature by act may direct the appropriate parish authority in Terrebonne Parish to transfer title and ownership as to certain lands near Bayou Dularge in Section 16 of Township 20 South, Range 16 East, which due to an error in the original governmental survey completed around 1838 until recently were thought to be within Section 9, to those persons who have possessed the property under good faith and just title for a minimum of ten years or to those who have acquired from them, reserving the mineral rights as just and sole compensation for the transfer. Consistent with the provisions of Article XIII, Section 3, the notice requirements of Article III, Section 13 are satisfied for an act passed as a companion to the act setting forth this Paragraph.^[1]

Public Notice; Public Bidding Requirements

No conveyance, lease, royalty agreement, or unitization agreement involving minerals or mineral rights owned by the state shall be confected without prior public notice or public bidding as shall be provided by law.^[1]

Tidelands Ownership

Revenues and royalties obtained from minerals located beyond the seaward boundary of the state belong to the state.^[1]

Wildlife and Fisheries Commission

(A) Members; Terms. The control and supervision of the wildlife of the state, including all aquatic life, is vested in the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission. The commission shall be in the executive branch and shall consist of seven members appointed by the governor, subject to confirmation by the Senate. Six members shall serve overlapping terms of six years, and one member shall serve a term concurrent with that of the governor. Three members shall be electors of the coastal parishes and representatives of the commercial fishing and fur industries, and four shall be electors from the state at large other than representatives of the commercial fishing and fur industries, as provided by law. No member who has served six years or more shall be eligible for reappointment.

(B) Duties; Compensation. The functions, duties, and responsibilities of the commission, and the compensation of its members, shall be provided by law.^[1]

Forestry

(A) Forestry; Acreage Taxes. Forestry shall be practiced in the state, and the legislature may enact laws therefor. It may authorize parish governing authorities to levy acreage taxes, not to exceed two cents per acre, for the purposes of this Section. The provisions of this constitution exempting homesteads from taxation shall apply to forestry acreage taxes.

(B)(1) Forestry Commission. The practice of forestry is placed under the Louisiana Forestry Commission. The commission shall be in the executive branch and shall consist of seven members. The head of the Department of Forestry at Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College and the director of the Wildlife and Fisheries Commission shall serve ex officio as members. The governor shall appoint the remaining five members, subject to confirmation by the Senate, for overlapping terms of five years, as provided by law.

(2) No person who has served as an appointed member of the commission for more than two and one-half terms in three consecutive terms shall be appointed to the commission for the succeeding term. This Subparagraph shall not apply to any person appointed to the commission prior to the effective date of this Subparagraph, except that it shall apply to any term of service of any such person that begins after such date.

(C) State Forester. The commission shall appoint a state forester. He shall be a graduate of an accredited school of forestry and have at least four years of forestry experience, as provided by law.^[1]

Repealed.

Repealed.