The Livingston Parish project was a flashpoint that led to a number of bills aimed at restricting or even banning carbon capture and its storage underground.
Not one of them passed. In part, that is because of the big influence of the oil and gas industry in the State Capitol, but it’s also because the industry had a pretty good case. Louisiana has extensive experience with injection wells and geologists argued that the state is a particularly good site for the practice.
It is also backed by Gov. John Bel Edwards, who has made CCS technologies a key point in his climate action plan.
Instead of the more extreme reactions, a political solution came from House Speaker Clay Schexnayder, R-Gonzales. His House Bill 571 passed unanimously in the Senate and 83-9 in the House. It awaits the governor’s likely signature.
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