Louisiana House Speaker Pro Temp Mike Johnson, R-Pineville, has sponsored legislation to give each parish the ability to hold a vote on whether they want to allow carbon capture and sequestration projects, but he said is not opposed to the technology. (Photo by John Ballance/The Advocate, Pool)Elected Republican officials in Louisiana, a state long friendly to the fossil fuel and petrochemical sectors, are scattered along the spectrum with their views on carbon capture and sequestration, a technology that industry touts as its front-running solution to curbing potentially harmful emissions. After a handful of proposals flopped last year, GOP legislators have proposed more legislation this year to ban or heavily restrict carbon storage projects. Nine lawmakers, including eight Republicans, have sponsored nearly two dozen bills on the issue, and more have signed on as co-sponsors. GOP skeptics of carbon storage are leaning heavily into private property rights and “not in my backyard,” or NIMBY, arguments to gain support for their measures. “I wouldn’t care if Ronald Reagan came back from the grave and told me he was for it. I wouldn’t be for it,” Rep. Charles Owen, R-Rosepine, said in an interview. He’s authored two bills to provide more transparency and local say-so for projects that store carbon dioxide deep underground. The parishes Owen represents, Beauregard and Vernon, both have CO2 storage wells planned within their borders. In 2025, he unsuccessfully sought similar local control measures for carbon capture projects, which he said his constituents are firmly against in their vicinity. “If you want to find somewhere where people want to go do it, go do it. But where I live, people do not want it,” Owen said. CapturePoint Solutions and Aethon Energy Operating both have pending carbon sequestration applications for a total of 12 wells in Vernon Parish, according to the Louisiana Department of Conservation and Energy. The Evergreen Sequestration Hub, to be operated by Trace Carbon Solutions of Houston, is planned for Beauregard Parish with two wells. Owen and Rep. Rodney Schamerhorn, R-Hornbeck both question the need to capture carbon emissions at all. Schamerhorn, who also has a local approval proposal for Beauregard Parish, considers climate change, for which CO2 is considered a major factor, a “scam.” Decades of research have confirmed the validity of climate change with human use of fossil fuels its chief cause. Rising sea levels along Louisiana’s coast are attributed to both climate change and land subsidence. Taking a more moderate stance on carbon sequestration than Owen is House Speaker Pro Tempore Mike Johnson, R-Pineville. One of his bills proposes a local vote in Rapides Parish on CO2 pipelines, and another would allow every parish to hold a similar referendum. “You won’t find a word in any of these bills I’ve sponsored that says kill the industry or discourage the industry,” Johnson said. Cleco and Capture Point Solutions have a combined 12 carbon sequestration wells planned for Rapides awaiting approval from the state. Johnson is also the lead author of the proposed Louisiana Landowners Protection Act, which would prevent carbon storage facilities from using eminent domain or expropriation to secure private land for their projects. Gov. Jeff Landry is also walking a fine line between industry’s wants and making fellow Republicans and their constituents happy. He issued a moratorium on new CO2 injection permit applications in October, allowing projects already permitted by the state to move forward. Appearing at an energy sector summit Tuesday in Houston, Landry said opposition to carbon capture sequestration in Louisiana comes largely from out-of-state, liberal special interest groups, E&E News reported. The Louisiana Department of Conservation and Energy lists 31 current applications for carbon sequestration projects across the state as of December 2025, each representing anywhere from one to eight wells. Only one permit application has been granted so far, in Cameron Parish for Hackberry Carbon Sequestration. Louisiana, North Dakota, West Virginia and Wyoming are the only four states the federal government allows to issue permits for the wells needed for carbon storage. Texas and Arizona are in the final stages of getting the same nod from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Industry groups, such as Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association, strongly favor the growth of carbon storage and are pushing back against the proposed legislation. “These bills would take away options from every parish in Louisiana by creating the kind of uncertainty that repels transformational projects from considering our state,” LMOGA president Tommy Faucheux said. Faucheux referenced a state economic development official who told lawmakers last week a $2 billion project in Beauregard Parish fell through over uncertainty about carbon capture and sequestration. Paige Carter, chief business development officer for Louisiana Economic Development, did not name the company but said its bioenergy company eliminated the site over a “lack of confidence” that CO2 storage development would take place in the parish. Sen. Bill Wheat, R-Ponchatoula, also has a bill to let each parish decide whether it wants to allow the wells needed for CO2 storage. His district is in the path of a pipeline that would move carbon dioxide from an Air Products hydrogen plant in Ascension to storage wells drilled under Lake Maurepas. Wheat has also sponsored bans on new CO2 pipelines leading to Lake Maurepas and Lake Pontchartrain and pipelines for any purpose in the three state wildlife management areas in his district. The Air Products project still needs final state approval to drill its CO2 storage wells. A spokesperson said Air Products is monitoring the legislative session and will review any bills that might impact industrial development in Louisiana. Wheat did not make himself available for an interview for this report. Another proposal from Rep. Les Farnum, R-Sulphur, would require any entity that transports carbon dioxide to track it from its origin to where it’s disposed of or stored. He also wants to establish advance public notice and feedback rules at the parish level when carbon storage products are proposed. Gulf Coast Sequestration is planning two carbon storage wells in Calcasieu Parish. “I think that every governing authority ought to have local control,” Farnum said, adding that he thinks advance public notice and feedback will “bring the transparency of what’s going on” to the local level. Correction: This report has been updated to reflect that Rep. Chuck Owen authored legislation last year seeking local approval of carbon sequestration projects.
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