Lawmakers on Tuesday are set to hear a sweeping package of bills aimed at reining in the state’s growing carbon sequestration industry, The Center Square reports.
State Rep. Joseph Orgeron, R-Jefferson, who will vice chair the committee meeting, is reportedly taking a less cautious position on carbon capture—acknowledging local concerns while defending the role the technology can play in reducing industrial emissions.
“I sympathize with those constituents who are looking for the opt-out option—to not have it in their parish,” Orgeron told The Center Square. “But I represent an area basically awash in hydrocarbon harvesting from the early ’50s, ’60s. We’ve had our environment kind of shared with the hydrocarbon harvesting industry, so we’re a little bit more open to it.”
Orgeron chairs the state’s Clean Hydrogen Task Force and has positioned himself as an advocate for low-carbon technologies that can reduce emissions without sidelining Louisiana’s traditional energy sector. Still, he acknowledges the desire of some parishes to block carbon capture developments and says he would support local opt-outs—though not without consequence.
The legislation, driven largely by Republican lawmakers from western and central Louisiana, targets everything from eminent domain powers to public notice requirements, with an emphasis on strengthening landowner rights and local control.
