‘LaPolitics’: Where carbon capture stands in Louisiana after Landry’s executive order

Almost a year has passed since Gov. Jeff Landry used an executive order to pause consideration of new permits for carbon capture and sequestration wells. Asked what happens next, Department of Conservation and Energy Secretary Dustin Davidson tells LaPolitics the order is still in place. He adds that the last 12 months or so has given the administration the “opportunity to wrap our hands around the sheer quantity of projects that were applied for in Louisiana.” At the time of the executive order in October 2025, Louisiana had almost half the amount of projects in the entire country. “It allowed others to submit their applications, but we were not going to review any new applications,” Davidson says. “Now we’ve gotten to the point where a lot of those projects have either fallen off because the financing wasn’t there or the project wasn’t really as promising as the applicant had hoped. We’ve also denied an application because we did not feel comfortable that it will be able to move forward and in a responsible manner.” As such, Davidson says the state now has more resources in place to review the remaining applications in its queue. “We’re at a point now where we’re getting close to having roughly eight projects approved with an additional five or six to be reviewed.”

— Promoting second chances: U.S. Reps. Troy Carter of New Orleans and Clay Higgins of Port Barre may not agree on very much politically, but they have joined forces to help people in prison find a second chance in the workforce. Carter, a Democrat, and Higgins, a Republican, introduced the TWIC Efficiency Act a year ago. The House of Representatives passed the measure under a rules suspension last week, shortly before recessing until the midterms. The TWICE Act is meant to help formerly incarcerated people find work in the industrial sector. The legislation directs the Transportation Security Administration to develop guidelines improving returning citizens’ access to the Transportation Worker Identification Credential program. That would include helping prisoners in federal, state and local correctional facilities in preparing and submitting applications for TWIC cards, and providing guidance to people seeking an appeal or waiver after a preliminary determination of ineligibility. The bill would not change the eligibility criteria for a TWIC card or alter any disqualifying offense that bars an applicant from receiving it.

— They said it: “Nothing against golfers out there, but golf courses use 40 times more water than data centers.” –Gov. Jeff Landry talking about why he welcomes data centers, on CNBC

Jeremy Alford publishes LaPolitics Weekly, a newsletter on Louisiana politics, at LaPolitics.com. Follow him on Twitter, or Facebook. He can be reached at JJA@LaPolitics.com.