CHAPTER 8. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES

§351. Department of Energy and Natural Resources; creation; domicile; composition; purposes and functions

            A. The Department of Energy and Natural Resources is created and shall be a body corporate with the power to sue and be sued. The domicile of the department shall be in Baton Rouge.

            B. The Department of Energy and Natural Resources, through its offices and officers, shall be responsible for the conservation, management, and development of water, minerals, and other such natural resources of the state, including coastal management, state water bottom management and permitting, the issuance of energy-related rights of way on state water bottoms and state lands, and energy-related leasing of state water bottoms and state lands as further set forth in law, but not including timber or fish and wildlife and their habitats.

            C.(1) The Department of Energy and Natural Resources shall be composed of the executive office of the secretary, the office of management and finance, the office of conservation, the office of mineral resources, the office of coastal management, the office of enforcement, the office of energy, the office of land and water, the Oilfield Site Restoration Commission, and other offices as shall be created by law.

            (2) Whenever the secretary determines that the administration of the functions of the department may be more efficiently performed by eliminating, merging, or consolidating existing offices or establishing new offices, the secretary shall present a plan therefor to the legislature for its approval by statute. In addition, beginning January 15, 2026, and thereafter in the same year as the sunset of the Department of Energy and Natural Resources, the secretary shall recommend to the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and the House Committee on Natural Resources and Environment to either terminate or continue the boards and commissions provided for in this Chapter. Any recommendation to terminate a board or commission shall include a plan to eliminate, merge, or consolidate the functions and responsibilities of that board or commission.

            Acts 1983, No. 97, §3, eff. Feb. 1, 1984; Acts 1986, No. 581, §2, eff. July 2, 1986; Acts 1987, No. 736, §1; Acts 1989, No. 282, §2, eff. June 27, 1989; Acts 1989, 2nd Ex. Sess., No. 6, §1, eff. July 14, 1989; Acts 1993, No. 404, §3; Acts 2009, No. 523, §1, eff. July 10, 2009; Acts 2010, No. 734, §2; Acts 2023, No. 150, §10, eff. Jan. 10, 2024; Acts 2024, No. 727, §1, eff. July 1, 2024.

NOTE: See Acts 1987, No. 736, §3.

NOTE: See Acts 1989, No. 282, §5.

NOTE: See Acts 1990, No. 601, §§3-5.

NOTE: See Acts 2009, No. 523, §§9 and 10.