Southlands Plus: Putting the carbon back?

Louisiana's delta has provided plentiful petroleum. Now, according to some, it's an ideal place to put carbon emissions back in the ground.

Oil canals in Louisiana’s wetlands / Photo by kris krüg

Earlier this week, in our free edition, I offered the basics of Lake Maurepas. Here I want to dive a bit deeper to unpack the local controversy over carbon sequestration and see how it fights into a larger fight.

Wells, wells, wells

We need to start with some terminology: the EPA classifies any well that sends carbon dioxide deep underground for storage as “Class VI.”

Generally, before a company can drill a Class VI well, they need to know the local geology. And to study that, they drill a different kind of well: Class V, a general category covering injections of “non-hazardous liquids” underground.

Last fall, the council in Livingston Parish, which sits along the northern edge of Lake Maurepas, passed year-long moratoria on both classes of wells. Air Products quickly sued over the Class V moratorium, claiming the parish lacked the authority, since the state provides the permits.