In an effort to maximize its terr 



cumbersome series of Supreme 



litigation culminated in 1969 with Uni 



two questions of critical importance for understanding the legal implications of coastal 

 erosion. First, the Court decided that international law must be applied to determine 

 Louisiana's coastline. The net effect of this decision was to minimize Louisiana's 

 offshore claims. Second, and more important, the Court declared Louisiana's coastline 

 to be ambulatory. This means Louisiana's baseline (from which the territorial sea is 

 measured) can move landward as the coast erodes, depriving Louisiana of substantial 

 offshore oil revenue. This fact is made clear in the June 1981 decree ° where the 

 Supreme Court implies that if the coastline recedes due to erosive forces, the United 

 States would have the right to seek a more favorable boundary with the state in court. 



CONCLUSIONS 



When a Louisiana private property owner's lands are subjected to erosion, he is 

 placed in an adversarial position with the State. If the private property abuts a navigable 

 river, the riparian loses to the State any property which erodes, but gains ownership of 

 any alluvion that builds up along his river bank. If the private property abuts a navigable 

 lake or the coastline, the littoral owner is placed in a "no win" situation. Any portion of 

 his land which erodes is lost to the State and ownership of any new land created between 

 his property line and the water vests in the State, cutting the littoral owner off from the 

 water by a strip of state-owned land. However, State law generally allows the private 

 land-owner to reclaim any land lost to erosion. 



When the State's coastline is subjected to erosion, the State is placed in an 

 adversarial position with the Federal Government. As erosion forces the coastline 

 landward, the State's territorial sea theoretically moves a corresponding distance 

 landward. Unlike the private landowner, the Federal Government does not give the 

 State a chance to reclaim lands lost to erosion. As a result, Louisiana may untimately 

 lose valuable offshore mineral rights to the Federal Government if the courts are ever 

 asked to recompute the State's coastline which is the baseline for measurement of the 

 territorial sea. 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 



This publication is a result of research sponsored by the Louisiana Sea Grant 

 Program, part of the National Sea Grant Program maintained by the National Oceanic 

 and Atmospheric Administration, United States Department of Commerce. The Federal 

 Government is authorized to produce and distribute for government purposes 

 notwithstanding any copyright notation that may appear hereon. 



FOOTNOTES 



1. The right of an individual to hold private property is of such significance that it is a 

 specifically protected right in U.S. Constitution. See, U.S. CONST, amend. V 



2. See generally . Mineral Code, La. Rev. Stat. Ann. Section 31:4 et seq. 



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