Privacy Page

Published: July 25, 2022

Important Note:

This policy applies solely to the direct use of www.deq.louisiana.gov.

The primary function of this website is to provide the citizens, partners and local government entities of Louisiana with information and direct links to the public services offered by the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ).

As you navigate www.deq.louisiana.gov you will see links that, when clicked, take you directly to resources or websites hosted outside of the www.deq.louisiana.gov website. These resources or websites will have their own individual privacy policies. Some of these policies will be similar to the www.deq.louisiana.gov policies, while others will be specifically tailored to the interactions available through that website. While the large majority of the links hosted by www.deq.louisiana.gov directly connect you to other state, federal, or local government resources or websites, some links directly connect to websites or resources being provided by third parties, such as social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.).

Even though data privacy and information security are critical priorities for LDEQ, we still strongly recommend you read the site policies for each site you visit.

CHILDREN’S ONLINE PRIVACY PROTECTION ACT

Children under the age of 13 are not eligible to use services that require submission of personal information and should not submit any personal information to www.deq.louisiana.gov. If you are a child under the age of 13, you can use these services only if used together with your parents or guardians. Seek guidance from your parents or guardians if you are under the age of 13.

COLLECTION OF INFORMATION

www.deq.louisiana.gov collects information by the following processes:

Information We Collect Automatically:

• Google Analytics
  • How and when you linked to www.deq.louisiana.gov, searches you initiated, things you clicked on.
  • Your IP address, the type of browser and operating system you used, and the pages you requested and visited.
• Cookies
  • When you visit or interact with www.deq.louisiana.gov, we or our authorized service providers use persistent cookies solely to provide you with a better, faster and safer experience.
• Security Monitoring
  • LDEQ systems employ various security mechanisms for monitoring and protecting our systems from attempted or actual improper use or intrusion. By using www.deq.louisiana.gov you accept the use of such security monitoring and LDEQ reserves the right to use any legally appropriate measures to prevent and investigate any individual attempting to modify, deface, delete, abuse or otherwise inappropriately use www.deq.louisiana.gov.
  • Except for authorized security event response and law enforcement investigations, no attempt is made to discover the identity of individual users.
    
    

Information You Voluntarily Provide:

• Location-Based (geo-location) Information
  • www.deq.louisiana.gov does not attempt to directly gain access to your location-based information from your mobile phone, tablet, laptop computer or web browser.
• Online Forms
  • When you choose to use these forms, your form submissions are securely transmitted directly to LDEQ’s managed systems. Information submitted is used solely for the purpose indicated at the time of your submission. More specifically, your information will not be used for any purpose which is not compliant with this privacy policy.

USE OF INFORMATION

How your information will be used:

We automatically collect information to improve the content of our web services and help understand how our services are being used. This information does not identify you personally and is used for gathering web site statistics. The information we automatically collect and store in our logs about your visit helps us analyze our website to continually improve the value of the materials available. Our website logs do not identify a visitor by personal information, and we make no attempt to link other websites with the individuals who browse our web site.

The information you voluntarily submit will be disclosed only to LDEQ employees or officials, or those under contract with LDEQ, on a “need-to-know basis” for purposes of fulfilling their job responsibilities. The information will be used for such purposes as answering your questions; responding to any requests for assistance; generating summary statistics about usage; auditing applications and detecting fraud; aiding in the planning, design and development ofq.louisiana.gov; and fulfilling any legal obligations.

How your information will not be used:

No information collected through www.deq.louisiana.gov will be used for financial gain, or for any other advertising or marketing purposes. LDEQ will not sell, lease or distribute any information to any third party unless required by state or federal law.

DO NOT TRACK

Do Not Track (DNT) is a privacy preference that users can set in some web browsers to signal their preference regarding potential "tracking" by third party websites. While the United States Federal Trade Commission has endorsed DNT, this site does not currently support DNT codes. However, except as otherwise disclosed herein, this site limits tracking to the internal uses described above. This site does not track your use across multiple websites; however, other websites to which we link may track your use. Please review privacy policies when you visit other websites to understand how you may be tracked.

DATA PROTECTION

This site and systems used to support this site comply with Louisiana’s Information Security Policy.

UPDATES AND CHANGES

www.deq.louisiana.gov reserves the right to change this privacy policy as necessary. Any such changes will be reflected by the publication date above. Please revisit this page regularly to stay apprised of any changes.