Baton Rouge Reporter

During his time in the Louisiana House of Representatives, State Sen. Jean-Paul Coussan (R-Lafayette), now a candidate for the Louisiana Public Service Commission (LPSC) sponsored a bill to incentivize the oil and gas industry to self-report and manage environmental issues.

The bill, HB 72, has been called an “effective tool” in finding the “best practices” to make the oil and gas industry “more effective, efficient and environmentally friendly.”

In March 2021, then-State Rep. Coussan sponsored HB 72, which was designed to incentivize the industry to self-report and manage potential environmental issues. The bill authorized the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to set up a system whereby industrial plants in Louisiana could conduct and report voluntary environmental self-audits. To encourage self-reporting, and proper management of incidents, reports on these incidents would being kept confidential for a determined period of time, except any information that is required to be reported to state or federal agencies.

As the Times-Picayune reported, DEQ attorney supervisor Amber Gremillion Litchfield explained that HB 72 would "[encourage] people to report more violations to us, and as a result we learn about violations and compliances achieved faster than we normally would going through the process on our own."

Per the Times-Picayune, the bill was supported by a number of associations and companies, including the Louisiana Chemical Association, Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association, Louisiana Association of Business and Industry, Louisiana Ammonia Producers, Entergy Inc. and Phillips 66. 

According to Greg Bowser, president and CEO of the Louisiana Chemical Association, "the environmental audit program would be an effective tool for both the Department of Environmental Quality and the industry to work together to increase data points on operations and to find best practices in making the industry more effective, efficient and environmentally friendly,"

The program was modeled after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) audit program, and the DEQ would work with the EPA on crafting its own self-auditing program. HB72 passed in both the House and Senate and the bill signed into law by Governor John Bel Edwards on June 29, 2021. It went into effect on August 1, 2021.

Coussan will face Julie Quinn, a lawyer and former State Senator, and Democrat Nick Laborde, a human resources consultant, for the District 2 seat on the Louisiana Public Service Commission during the November general election. If no candidate reaches the 50 percent threshold, the top two vote receivers will advance to a runoff.