CHAPTER 8. DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES

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

A. The Department of 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 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, except timber and fish and wildlife and their habitats.

C.(1) The Department of 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 Oilfield Site Restoration Commission, and such 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, he shall present a plan therefor to the legislature for its approval by statute.

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.

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, relative to transfer of duties and responsibilities to the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority and the transfer of business, employees, programs, etc. of the authority and the Office of Coastal Protection and Restoration in the office of the governor.