[StBernard] New law expands La. coastal zone

[Westley Annis]

"....It comes down to the science determining where the boundary should be,"
Chustz said."

No, actually what it comes down to is government attempting to grab more
control determining where the boundary should be - and of course "money."
This was a bad idea - period.  This will eventually come back to bite
several parishes in the butt when they suddenly run into a wall of
permitting problems (for land use) they never encountered before on land
that is the same today as it was decades ago.  Plus, this will require land
owners and developers to pay permitting fees (and some of them are high)
they never previously had to pay - and let's not forget possible the need
for an environment impact study that wasn't previously needed because the
site in question is now in the declared coastal zone.  I tried to warn
several legislators and officials in a few different parishes, but no one
appeared to be knowledgeable of what was going on and what this entailed,
thus could not truly understand the potential impact down the road.
Sometimes, you just have to let the ignorant stick their fingers in the
electrical socket and get shocked for them to finally get it.  Just wait -
it's just a matter of time before someone like a private landowner wants to
build something on their property but the state of Louisiana's department of
Natural Resources/Coastal Division will have a problem with it because it's
now in the "coastal zone" where just the year before there would not have
been any problem.  Oh, and did I mention this could now bring the Corps of
Engineers into the picture?  Oh, it's tons of fun having to deal with
permitting with those guys.

John