(The Center Square) – Louisiana Department of Conservation and Energy Secretary Dustin Davidson said communities will grow in unexpected ways because of states’ central role in America’s push to energy dominance.
“Within the last year, we have had roughly $70 billion of capital expenditures announced in Louisiana – that’s unheard of in a lot of states,” Davison said in a Thursday address at the Louisiana Energy Summit in New Orleans hosted by the American Council for Capital Formation.
‘Small Louisiana has always been able to punch above our weight and be able to deliver needs to the world and to the nation in ways that other states cannot, so I think it’s important that we think about the fact that we are going to be growing in ways that we never expected before. As we start to develop and grow a little bit more, we need to be focused on how we are going protect our resources and how we can be partners in protecting those resources,” said Davidson.
Davidson, appointed by Gov. Jeff Landry in September 2025, is overseeing a reorganization of the Department of Conservation and Energy aimed at reducing bureaucratic hurdles while also adapting to modern industrial technologies.
“We took the opportunity to eliminate some of the duplicative functions that we had in the department,” he said. “Now we have one permitting office – a permitting office that handles coastal use permits, oil and gas permits, carbon capture permits, and any other permits that we issue. The department now has an enforcement office, ready to enforce the laws on the books, and an Office of Energy that is being expanded to mirror the federal Office of Energy,” said Davidson.
Davidson said the Department of Conservation and Energy, formerly the Department of Energy and Natural Resources, has been “reactive” in the management of oil and gas and water resources for years, in part because of outdated statutes on the books since the early 1900s. Additionally, the department had not been restructured since 1976, Davidson noted.
“We’ve taken the steps as a Department of Conservation and Energy to work closely with Louisiana Economic Development to make sure that any new business they are recruiting to the state is communicated to us, and that we can identify those permits on the front end so that there’s no lag or no delay in delivering those projects to communities – projects like we see in Richland, Louisiana with Meta or like we see with other businesses that will be coming to the state,” said Davidson
“As we look forward to the development of new technologies – and permitting projects around the state – we want make sure that we’re working with the applicants to make sure they know that they need to get out and partner with the community,” Davidson said.
Davidson said the oil and gas industry would benefit from a lower severance tax. “We’ve taken that approach to make sure that we can bring in new developers and help out some of the existing developers that are looking for new plays throughout the state,” he said.
