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Environment

RPC and the Environment

Environmental planning at the RPC strengthens the long-term resilience, safety, and sustainability of Southeast Louisiana by integrating natural systems, flood risk, climate adaptation, and land use considerations into regional decision-making. The region’s unique coastal environment, complex watershed systems, and exposure to extreme weather make environmental planning essential to protecting communities, infrastructure, and economic assets.

The RPC provides data, analysis, research, coordination, and policy guidance that help local governments manage environmental challenges at the scale they occur—across parishes, watersheds, and shared ecological systems

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Watershed and Flood Risk Reduction

In conjunction with the state Louisiana Watershed Initiative, the RPC is working with local partners to establish regional watershed planning frameworks, goals, strategies, and project development to address the region’s ongoing and future flood risks.

RPC is conducting a watershed-scale assessment – flood risk analysis that supports regional and parish-level flood risk reduction strategies:

  • Watershed profiles, hydrologic systems, and drainage pathways.

  • Data oriented and statistical analysis to understand correlations and relationships between the natural environment and decisions made in the built environment.

  • Runoff coefficient modeling, impervious surface analysis, land cover change.

  • IDF curve analysis and rainfall intensity distribution.

  • Pluvial, riverine, coastal, and surge flood risk assessments.

  • Identification of hotspots, vulnerabilities, and community-level impacts.

  • Cross-parish and cross-watershed mitigation and adaptation coordination.

Urban Water Partnership

Resiliency and Adaptation Planning 

The environment is changing faster than ever. As our communities use energy for industrial purposes and drive cars for personal use , heat-trapping greenhouse gases are released into the air.  These gases are turning what used to be extreme weather events, like heatwaves, heavy rain, and strong hurricanes, into our new normal weather patterns. However, our cities and communities are not set up for this new normal.

RPC supports regional climate adaptation and hazard planning by:

  • Analyzing sea-level rise, storm surge, extreme rainfall, heat, and subsidence.
  • Assessing environmental vulnerabilities that affect transportation and developmentIntegrating resilience standards into project development.
  • Supporting local hazard mitigation planing via data.
  • Coordinating across agencies, universities, and state/federal programs.

Clean Air and Clean Fuels

Approximately 30% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions comes from the transportation industry. In efforts to improve air quality with local partners, the RPC established the Southeast Louisiana Clean Fuel Partnership.

  • The Southeast Louisiana Clean Fuel Partnership (SLCFP) focuses on working with local  transportation fleets to:
    • Increase the use of cleaner fuels and alternative fuel vehicles
    • Diversify our transportation fuel sources
    • Reduce consumption of fuel by promoting fuel saving technologies and policies

Brownfield Remediation

Brownfields are underutilized sites suffering from real or perceived environmental contamination. The RPC Brownfield Program provides funding and technical assistance to those interested in redeveloping brownfields through grants from the EPA.

RPC offers environmental site assessments, cleanup plans, and technical assistance to facilitate the redevelopment of brownfields. The Brownfield Redevelopment Program focuses on converting these properties from community liabilities into community assets.

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