Prohibits the sale of Louisiana running surface water outside of the state

House Bill 599 enacts a new subsection to Louisiana Revised Statutes 30:961 that prohibits the sale of running surface water owned by the state for use outside Louisiana's boundaries. The legislation simultaneously repeals subsection (I) of that same statute, which previously authorized the Secretary of the Department of Environmental Quality to enter into cooperative endeavor agreements for the withdrawal and sale of running surface water for out-of-state use, subject to approval by the House Committee on Natural Resources and Environment and the Senate Committee on Natural Resources. The bill operates as a prohibition and a revocation of delegated authority, creating an absolute restriction on the state's ability to commercialize its running surface waters for external consumption.

The practical effect of this legislation falls primarily on the Department of Environmental Quality and any private entities or out-of-state purchasers that might have entered into cooperative endeavor agreements under the prior authorization. Any existing or proposed arrangements for the sale or transfer of Louisiana's running surface water to users outside the state would be prohibited under this new law. Water resource companies, agricultural operations in neighboring states, and municipal systems in other jurisdictions that might have sought to acquire Louisiana running surface water would no longer have a legal mechanism to do so. The state loses the revenue-generating capacity that cooperative endeavor agreements might have provided, though the bill reflects a policy judgment that in-state water resources should remain available for Louisiana's own use.

This legislation modifies the framework established in R.S. 30:961, which governs cooperative endeavor agreements and the withdrawal of surface water by the state. The statutory provision operates within Louisiana's constitutional and common law authority over natural resources within its borders. The repeal of subsection (I) eliminates the specific mechanism by which the Secretary previously held authority to negotiate out-of-state water sales, while the addition of subsection (L) serves as an interpretive safeguard against any reading of the remaining subsections that might permit such sales. The bill reflects principles of state water sovereignty and the preservation of natural resources for in-state benefit, operating within the established framework of state environmental and water resource law.