Arranging Geologic Review Meetings

Geologic Review (GR) meetings are arranged through the lead permitting agency involved with your permit application. The lead agencies are the Coastal Management Division (CMD) for the state and U. S. Army Corps of Engineers (COE) for the federal government. You should contact your permit analyst at the lead agency to arrange the meeting. If you do not know who this is, contact Christine Charrier or Karl Morgan at CMD at 225-342-7591. For COE-only permits, where no CMD permit is required, contact Ronnie Duke (western area), Martin Mayer (central area) or Mike Farabee (eastern area) at 504-865-1121. To insure maximum agency participation a minimum of two weeks advance notice is suggested.

Location

GR Meetings are held in the new LaSalle Building on the northwest corner of North Street and Third Street in downtown Baton Rouge. The easiest way to get there is to exit I-110 northbound at North Street (this exit ramp is oddly on the left side of I-110) and follow North Street west towards the Mississippi River to the state's Welcome Center parking garage at North Street and River Road by the Mississippi River. The LaSalle Building is the building to the east of the parking garage. The meetings are held in a conference room on the 10th floor of the LaSalle Building or there will be a posted notice as to the location. Everyone entering the building must now clear a security checkpoint; please budget a few extra minutes for this.

Parking

You can park for free in the state's Welcome Center parking garage at North and River Road immediately to the west of the LaSalle Building by the Mississippi River. Either present the parking ticket you get there to the security staff at their checkpoint on the first floor of the LaSalle Buliding as you check in, or take it to the Coastal Restoration Division receptionist on the 10th floor and tell them that you are attending a GR Meeting at Coastal Management, and your ticket will be validated for free parking.

Dress

GR meetings are casual dress; ties, jackets, etc. are not required.

Preapplication GR Meetings

Preapplication GR meetings can save time. They are encouraged and can be set up with the lead agency well before submitting a formal application for a permit. The applicant should mention if there is any specific need for members of any relevant commenting agencies (LDEQ, LDWF, USFWS, etc.) to be present so that their schedules can be worked around.

Information

The document describing the information needed for a Geologic Review meeting can be found here. Applicants occasionally fail to bring sufficient information and as a result the processing of their permit application is sometimes significantly delayed. Please bring everything listed if at all possible; please remember that items that are seemingly unimportant may be very important to the various permitting and commenting agencies involved. If you have any questions at all please contact John E. Johnston III at either hammer@lsu.edu or at the Louisiana Geological Survey (225-578-8657). After business hours he can be reached at 225-931-6622. He can be faxed at 225-578-9257.

Personnel

The only applicant personnel generally required for a Geologic Review meeting are the appropriate geologist and the appropriate petroleum engineer who are handling the prospect. In the event that there is a regulatory or environmental affairs coordinator or consultant involved in the permit then they should probably also be present. Other applicant personnel are generally not really essential to the meeting. Significant applicant delegations, while certainly allowed, are discouraged as they tend to make meetings large, slow, and inefficient.