Committee narrows Scenic Rivers exemption to Bayou Manchac after conservation objections

House Bill 172 — a measure to extend a temporary exemption from the Louisiana Scenic Rivers Act to allow flood-mitigation work in certain waterways — was amended in committee to limit the exemption to Bayou Manchac.

Representative Edmondson and Paul Sawyer of the Amite River Basin Commission told the committee that the extension is necessary so seven parishes, including East Baton Rouge, Ascension and Iberville, can complete flood mitigation tied to time-limited funding. “This money does have a clock on it,” Sawyer told committee members.

Conservation groups and local landowners pressed the committee not to extend the exemption for the Comite River, citing experience with earlier exemptions that, they said, allowed unregulated clearing and dredging with downstream erosion and habitat loss. Emily Buxton of The Nature Conservancy said the Scenic Rivers Act protects habitat, reduces erosion and provides a permitting process that “protects valuable fish, wildlife and habitats.” Isis Longo of Friends of the Comite described heavy bank erosion and said agency permitting is necessary to prevent unintended downstream impacts.

Senator Lambert offered an amendment to remove the Comeite (Comite) River from the exemption. The committee adopted the amendment with no objection, limiting the bill’s exemption to Bayou Manchac only. After the amendment passed, Representative Edmondson and witnesses asked for a favorable report; the committee reported the bill as amended.

Testimony emphasized the difference between Bayou Manchac — which witnesses described as a coastal, different-system waterway where the exemption was more acceptable — and the Comite River, where prior exemptions yielded what witnesses described as harmful clearing.

The committee recorded no objections to adoption of the amendment and reported HB 172 as amended.