State legislators are drafting proposed carbon capture bills in response to residents’ concerns ahead of the upcoming legislative session.

On Monday, several Louisiana lawmakers discussed plans for the bills during a meeting of the We the People Commission. The grassroots group is concerned about the potential environmental and health risks associated with injecting CO2 into the ground and the threat of pipeline companies using eminent domain to obtain land access from unwilling landowners.

District 32 Rep. Dewitt Carrier of Oakdale and District 30 Rep. Charles Owen of Rosepine have introduced separate legislation giving local government more control regarding Class VI carbon dioxide injection wells.

Louisiana currently has nearly two dozen carbon capture projects in various stages throughout the state, including Allen Parish.

The proposed legislation would enable individual parishes to decide whether or not to permit such wells within their jurisdiction. This determination could be made either by the parish governing authority or through a local option election.

House Bill 4, authored by Owen, is currently pending in the House Natural Resources Committee.

“I am bringing a bill this time to try to provide a local opt out option,” Owen said. “I hate that we have to do it. I asked the lawyers if we have to do this, and they said yes. I said, ‘Why can’t the police jury just say no right now?’ That’s because of the way our law is.”

He further lamented that Louisiana has numerous peculiar laws that can strain our identity and liberties.

Owen expressed his frustration, stating, “I wish that the police jury in Allen,Vernon or Beauregard could say we’re not issuing that permit, but because the way our law is established, they can’t.”

Under current law, the carbon capture companies can come in and proceed with their plans, he said.

The proposed legislation will allow parish governing authorities to either approve or deny the plans, he said.

“The people of Allen Parish elect their police jury, and they should be to decide whether or not they want this business activity,” Owen said. “They can choose whether or not they want liquor or gambling in their community.”

“If the police jury votes against the wishes of the citizens, there is a failsafe in place,” he continued. “Fifteen percent of the registered voters can sign a petition to put the issue to a vote.”

He emphasized that this system is designed to be as close to a democracy as possible.

“If I were king for a day and I had three more wishes, I would make carbon sequestration an illegal activity,” he said, noting that he considers carbon sequestration as a “waste.”

He noted there was a fundamental difference between enhanced oil recovery which is used to extract oil from underperforming fields and carbon sequestration.

Enhanced oil recovery extracts a product from the ground that can be sold, providing economic benefits and various other advantages, he said. In contrast, carbon sequestration creates a waste site – a potentially dangerous dump with unknown long-term consequences.

“This is creating a dump and it is a dangerous dump,” Owen said.  “We don’t know what it’s going to do.”

Owen recently sent letters to the Department of Natural Resources and the Department of Environmental Quality concerning the creation of waste sites that he feels the DEQ should manage instead of the natural resources preservation.

“We are taking something out of the air, creating a toxin, shoving it into pipes, and then putting them in the ground. Where is the natural resource? I don’t understand it.,” Owen said.

Owen is also reaching out to the Environmental Protection Agency to involve them in the projects.

District 1 Rep. Danny McCormick of Oil City, La., a former oil field worker, stated that the oil and gas industry is not truly in support of the issue.

“When they tell you the oil and gas industry is supporting this they’re lying to you,” McCormick said. “There are a few. The billionaire companies that want to be multimillionaire companies, they do support it. But the oil and gas people don’t support it.”

McCormick also stressed the importance of property rights, urging the group to protect their land from unwanted intrusions. He said nobody has the right to put anything under someone’s property that they don’t want there.

He said CO2 is odorless and 1.5 times heavier than air, which causes it to stay close to the ground which poses a significant risk of asphyxiation.

“Unlike natural gas, which is lighter than air and has an added odor for safety, CO2 lacks these warning properties,” McCormick said. “I was informed that no odor will be added to the CO2 due to concerns about chemical reactions, which heightens my worries.”

McCormick also has concerns about the corrosive nature of CO2 is  tendency to transform carbonic acid when combined with moisture.

Sen. Heather Cloud of Ville Platte said she was introduced to carbon capture four or five years ago during a meeting with elected officials and a carbon capture company.

She recalled, “They pitched the idea of carbon capture and what that would mean for Allen Parish. As I listened, I heard about two parties: the  landowner and the high potential of profitability for the company itself. I remember questioning, ‘What about everybody else?’ I knew at that moment there was going to become a day where everybody else got into the conversation and I think that’s where we’re at right now. It’s happening in spots across the nation and in spots across the state.”