James R. (Randy) Hanchey 

Randy Hanchey currently serves as the Deputy Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources. His principal responsibilities include direction and oversight of the Office of Coastal Restoration Management including a number of programs that address the critical problems of marsh and wetland losses in the Louisiana coastal zone - including the Federal/State Coastal Wetland Planning, Protection and Restoration Act (also known as the Breaux Act program), and state projects funded from the Louisiana Coastal Wetlands Trust Fund.  The Office of Coastal Restoration Management is also responsible for the State Coastal Zone Management Program, the Coastal Use Permitting Program, and other wetlands management program.

Mr. Hanchey retired from the Corps of Engineers in January 1998.  Mr. Hanchey was a member of the Federal Senior Executive Service and served in a number of high level positions with the Corps - including Director of Engineering and Technical Services with the Mississippi Valley Division in Vicksburg, Mississippi, the Director of the Water Resource Support Center and the Director of the Institute for Water Resources in Washington, D.C.  Mr. Hanchey was born in Louisiana, received his undergraduate degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Southwestern Louisiana, a Masters Degree in Civil Engineering from Tulane University and completed two years of advanced studies at Stanford University.

Natural Hazards in Coastal Louisiana Afternoon Panel Presentation

The Louisiana coastal wetlands, 20,000 square miles from Texas to Mississippi, protect an internationally significant commercial-industrial complex from the destructive forces of storm-driven winds and tides.   The degradation of the Louisiana coast makes us vulnerable, not unlike an incident under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.  Ironically, response to the degradation of our coast line entails the use of some of the same technologies as these incidents.  The lunch presentation will discuss the historical and future federal and state roles in the Louisiana Coastal Area Near-Term Ecosystem Restoration Plan.