St. Helena’s police jury on Tuesday introduced a proposal to impose a year-long moratorium on construction of injection wells used in carbon capture, the latest move among southeast Louisiana parishes echoing growing concern about the technology.
Carbon capture and storage is a process that takes the carbon from an industrial site and injects it deep underground. Industry experts regard the method as the future for tackling climate change, while climate advocates and many locals argue the process may pose risks to their health and the environment.
None of the state’s current carbon capture projects touch St. Helena, though parish officials say energy companies have been considering St. Helena for future projects. Parish officials say they want more time to research possible effects before letting industry construct any injection wells.
“The parish is saying, ‘Let’s take a year and really look into this to see what they’re trying to do and what potential dangers we need to be aware of,†Roderick Matthews, St. Helena’s emergency management director, told The ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ prior to the meeting. “We want to make sure it’s going to be safe and not put anyone in harm’s way.â€
Other parishes in the region are taking similar actions — Livingston Parish issued its own year-long moratorium earlier this month in response to two projects being considered for that parish.
Air Products plans to build a “blue hydrogen†manufacturing plant near Burnside in Ascension Parish that would extract methane from natural gas. They hope to open a facility by 2026 that would compress and liquify carbon and store it deep under Lake Maurepas, which touches Livingston, St. James, St. John the Baptist and Tangipahoa parishes.
Air products next month will begin a seismographic survey in Lake Maurepas that will run through spring 2023.
Another project from Oxy Low Carbon Ventures is set to lease 300,000 acres of land in Livingston Parish and have a facility running by 2025 near Holden. OLCV has filed a permit with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to build injection wells.
As the St. Helena police jury meeting was underway Tuesday, Air Products and OxyChem conducted a meeting in Livingston Parish to answer questions from parish residents.
There was standing room only at Livingston Parish’s council chambers. The council had pitched the meeting as an opportunity to hear from the companies seeking to open carbon capture hubs in the parish, and allow residents to directly interrogate them.
Various public officials spoke to the audience during the first half of the meeting, attempting to explain the carbon sequestration technology and describe which agencies are responsible for different steps in the permitting process. Some attempted to correct what they characterized as misunderstandings around the science involved, as well as the risks.
“There’s absolutely a lack of information about what this is, what it looks like, how it works,†said Thomas Harris, secretary of the state Department of Natural Resources. “There’s some misinformation.â€
Eric Harrell, a resident from the Holden area, described the carbon sequestration action as a point-of-no-return for the parish.
“Protect the people in this parish,†he said. “Once it’s done, it’s over with.â€
By the time representatives with Air Products and OxyChem took to the podium, the mood in the room was strained. Wayne Rowe, an Air Products director, acknowledged the tension and admitted the company should have communicated their plans sooner. As for safety, he emphasized everyone is on the same team.
“We’re the last ones who want anything bad to happen,†Rowe said. “We have to do this to prove to you and to the EPA that this site is safe. That’s the first thing that’s going to happen. That’s the first thing we all have to work through.â€
Meanwhile in Tangipahoa Parish, the Parish Council on Monday night saw about 75 residents hoping to express their concerns over possible effects on Lake Maurepas’ environment and its fishing and crabbing industries.
“The real reason we’re here is because the community is scared,†Kinion Bankston, owner of Southern Media Boyz, a popular TV and social media organization, said at the Tangipahoa meeting. “The community is scared to death. The fishermen and the crabbers back here behind me, their future is very uncertain in all this process.â€
St. Helena will vote to adopt the moratorium at a later police jury meeting after holding a public hearing.
No action was taken at that Tangipahoa meeting, though state Reps. Will Wheat and Sherman Mack suggested the Parish Council consider its own moratorium on Class VI wells designated for injecting carbon dioxide underground.
“We may need a little more time to digest it and to get a better plan on where we’re going to go, how we’re going to and if this thing is going to go through,†Mack said. “A moratorium may be what you want to explore.â€
Editor's note: This story was corrected on Oct. 11 to say that St. Helena's moratorium was introduced on Sept. 27, not passed into law.
