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When the regular session convenes Monday, one of the touchiest issues for the Legislature’s agriculture committees, and the two chambers, will be carbon capture.
The issue pits the state’s economic development hopes against landowner concerns, and House Agriculture, Forestry, Aquaculture and Rural Development Chair Troy Romero finds himself in the middle.
“We’re getting tremendous pushback from my constituents in the farming community,” he says. “[But] I think it’s something that could be useful for the state.”
Louisiana Economic Development Secretary Susan Bourgeois explained the stakes from her perspective to the House Appropriations Committee this week. Over the past four years, $40 billion in announced projects for Louisiana have had a significant carbon capture component, she said.
Rep. Charles Owen, who sits on appropriations, has introduced legislation to allow parish governments to decide whether to allow carbon capture wells in their jurisdictions. Livingston Parish attempted to put a moratorium on carbon capture wells, but a federal court ruled that the authority over such wells rests with the state.
“I have no intention of trying to kill carbon capture,” Owen told the committee. “The industry needs carbon capture.”
He says his concern is “the forced imposition of things.”
“If people want this, they can have all of ours,” Owen says.
Romero says industry leaders could do a better job of explaining the process to local officials and residents. For example, people want to be assured that their aquifers will be safe, he says.
There’s also a question of liability, he says, noting the state’s current problem with orphaned oil and gas wells. If cleanup is necessary, Romero wants the companies, not the state, to be responsible.
—They said it: “I’m just as tired of seeing Morris Bart as I am of seeing the lizard.” –Gov. Jeff Landry, referring to the Geico gecko seen in the company’s advertising, while touting proposed insurance reforms during a press conference this week
