NEW ORLEANS – Modern carbon capture and storage (CCS) is reshaping Louisiana’s industrial landscape, moving from pilot projects to a fast-expanding statewide buildout. The technology works by capturing carbon dioxide from industrial facilities and injecting it deep underground for long-term storage.
Energy and petrochemical firms say Louisiana is particularly well suited for rapid CCS expansion and Louisiana Economic Development (LED) has positioned the technology as a pillar of the state’s industrial strategy, arguing it will attract major investment and diversify the economy. Several of the state’s largest planned industrial expansions, backed by ExxonMobil, CF Industries and Air Products, utilize carbon sequestration.
Safety Record Raises Local Alarm
Louisiana and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are currently in court over whether the state should be allowed to take over permitting authority for Class VI wells — the federally regulated injection wells used for long-term underground storage of captured carbon dioxide. The lawsuit centers on whether the state’s proposed oversight program meets federal safety and environmental standards, a requirement before EPA can transfer that authority.
Separately, Livingston Parish residents, including members of the community group Save Our Water, have sued to block Air Products’ proposed Class VI injection wells there, arguing that the parish and state approved early stages of the project without adequate environmental review or public notice.
These legal battles reflect a wider concern about whether Louisiana’s CCS framework can protect public safety. Critics often point to two recent high-profile failures as evidence that CCS infrastructure is unsafe, but both incidents stem from the nation’s legacy CO₂ pipeline network—a system that spans roughly 5,000 miles and was built decades ago for enhanced oil recovery. In Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, companies such as Denbury and ExxonMobil operate more than 900 miles of these older lines.
- In 2020, a pipeline rupture near Satartia, Mississippi released an estimated 31,000 barrels of compressed CO₂ after heavy rains triggered a landslide that stressed the buried line. Roughly 300 residents were evacuated and dozens were hospitalized. Federal investigators later found that pipeline modeling failed to predict how dense CO₂ could accumulate in low-lying areas, and regulators issued one of the largest civil penalties in the history of the federal pipeline safety agency.
- A similar alarm sounded in Southwest Louisiana on April 3, 2024, when an ExxonMobil-owned CO₂ pipeline leaked near Sulphur in Calcasieu Parish. Residents, not company sensors, first reported a dense white plume of CO₂ and water vapor, prompting a shelter-in-place advisory. Analysts estimated the release at just over 2,500 barrels, and it took more than two hours to fully shut down the line.
Supporters of CCS argue that these failures reflect the age and design of older pipelines and methods, not the safety of modern climate-oriented CCS projects.
Community Pushback Intensifies
The rapid pace of CCS development is also prompting vocal community opposition. Although a Dec. 3 LED rules hearing was not convened specifically to address carbon capture, residents used the public-comment session to press for transparency and stronger safeguards.
“This is moving too fast for me,” said one Ascension Parish attendee. “All I see now is pipes, pipes, pipes. It’s something we’ve never had before. My question is, who is going to be the one to ensure the safety of this? Who is going to let the people know what is going on? How is this going to be safe when y’all are rushing CCS?”
Louisiana’s Expanding CCS Network
Even with the pushback, Louisiana is advancing one of the country’s most aggressive CCS buildouts. More than 40 CCS or carbon-removal projects have been announced statewide since 2024, including ammonia and hydrogen plants, LNG facilities, power-sector projects and emerging direct-air-capture systems.
CF Industries
CF Industries has begun capturing CO₂ at its Donaldsonville complex. In Ascension Parish, an Air Products–led $4 billion joint venture aims to build what developers describe as the world’s largest low-carbon ammonia plant, with millions of tons of emissions routed for permanent storage.
Air Products
Air Products has proposed a major blue hydrogen and ammonia complex in Ascension Parish designed to capture most of its CO₂ output, though the company has since indicated it may restructure parts of the project.
In a separate initiative, Air Products is developing an $8–9 billion low-carbon hydrogen and ammonia complex in Louisiana capable of producing more than 750 million standard cubic feet of hydrogen per day while capturing up to 95 percent of the CO₂ generated. Yara International plans to acquire and operate the ammonia production, storage and shipping facilities, integrating them into its global distribution system. Air Products estimates the project would store approximately five million tons of CO₂ per year through a third-party sequestration agreement. Final investment decisions are expected by mid-2026.
Regional CO₂ Storage Hub
Occidental’s 1PointFive subsidiary and Enbridge are advancing a regional sequestration hub north of Lake Pontchartrain to receive CO₂ from multiple industrial sites.
Sempra Infrastructure
In Cameron Parish, the state approved Louisiana’s first Class VI carbon-storage well this year for Sempra Infrastructure, which plans to inject CO₂ beneath Black Lake near Hackberry. Meanwhile, Denbury—one of the region’s largest CO₂ pipeline operators—is developing storage sites in St. Charles Parish and proposing a multibasin transport network linking emitters across the state.
Heirloom Carbon Technologies
Heirloom Carbon Technologies, part of the federally supported Project Cypress direct-air-capture hub, is building two facilities in Northwest Louisiana designed to remove CO₂ directly from the atmosphere.
Woodland Biofuels
At the Port of South Louisiana, Canada-based Woodland Biofuels plans a carbon-negative renewable gas and hydrogen plant projected to remove up to 660,000 tons of CO₂ annually when fully built.
As the state’s CCS portfolio expands, residents and advocates say their central question is whether Louisiana’s regulatory framework, public-notification processes and emergency-response systems are equipped for the scale of what comes next.
