Port Fourchon

The Greater Lafourche Port Commission was created in 1960 by Act 222 of the Louisiana Legislature as a political subdivision of the state. It has jurisdiction over the Tenth Ward of Lafourche Parish south of the Intracoastal Waterway. Its nine commissioners serve six-year terms and form the only elected port commission in Louisiana, with authority to regulate commerce and traffic, maintain water depths, provide police protection, levy taxes, issue bonds and lease property.

The Harbor Police department was created in 1972, LOOP began operations in 1981, and the 400-acre E-Slip development, begun in 1984, was fully leased by 2000. The Northern Expansion was permitted in 2001, the same year the Commission acquired the South Lafourche Airport and the surrounding 1,200 acres.