In May of this year, again working with the SCS, over 700 black mangrove trees were 

 planted on Timbalier Island to replace those killed in recent years by hard freezes and 

 Hurricane Juan. The trees were cultivated at the East Meadow experiment station. 



As one final example, LL&E has recently joined with the Louisiana Litter Control and 

 Regulatory Commission in the "Adopt-A-Beach" program. The company adopted the 

 eastern portion of Timbalier Island. Initial cleanup was conducted on May 18. About 

 100 dump truck loads of large debris, mainly driftwood, and 170 garbage bags of 

 smaller items were removed. Other companies, organizations, and individuals are 

 encouraged to "Adopt-A-Beach"; it is an excellent program. 



Louisiana Land and Exploration has also conducted many in-house projects to better use the 

 resources of the wetlands. One prime example is a model alligator farm near Galliano, LA. This 

 project was established with the hope that it will assist in developing the State alligator industry. 

 Further, it should form the nucleus for a new industry-use of nutria meat, currently a much wasted 

 resource-as food for alligators. The small farm is also capable of producing alligators to restock 

 areas of low population or areas devastated by natural disasters. 



The above synopsis of LL&E's wetland conservation accomplishments is given to make three 

 points: first, to illustrate that the company does care about the wetlands and associated problems- 

 -particularly land loss; second, for years LL&E has actively worked to solve these problems; and 

 third, we believe our efforts have yielded positive results and this view is supported by scientific 

 studies. 



However, the company is completely frustrated by the current regulatory scheme which seems 

 to thwart rather than encourage wetland conservation. At the core of the problem is the complex 

 dual permitting system for activities in the wetlands. Under the current dual State and Federal 

 permitting systems for activities in the coastal zone, different commenting agencies, on both the 

 State and Federal levels, provide input on all permit applications. In many instances, these views 

 conflict because of the different interests of the different agencies. As a result, LL&E found it 

 extremely time consuming, difficult and in some instance impossible to pursue wetland conservation 

 projects under the dual permit scheme. In fact, the company has even rejected permits because 

 the proposed terms are so different from those applied for that the intended goals could not be 

 achieved. Who suffers the most? The wetlands. As most people are aware, Louisiana loses about 

 1 acre of wetlands every 15 minutes, the time it takes to read this paper. 



The situation is even more frustrating in attempting to permit marsh management plans. As 

 mentioned earlier, the company has a number of these plans completed and ready to be permitted. 

 However, permitting is not being actively pursued. Why? First, LL&E believes that under the 

 existing political and regulatory climate, it would be virtually impossible to obtain permits. 

 Therefore, why waste time, money, and energy? Second, the company is aware of the complex 

 monitoring programs recently proposed as permit conditions for other companies' marsh 

 management plans. Louisiana Land and Exploration simply cannot afford to conduct the costly 

 sampling and analysis programs that will be standard requirements in the future. Again, who 

 suffers the most? The wetlands. 



There are some measures, however, that LL&E believes could be taken to rectify these 

 problems: 



1. Eliminate dual State and Federal permits. 



2. Streamline the permitting process. 



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