At a recent public meeting, anti‑CCS activists from outside Caldwell Parish made incorrect assertions that created confusion in the community. Strategic Biofuels’ Louisiana Green Fuels (LGF) project has been openly discussed and vetted in Caldwell Parish for more than five years. The project is designed to operate safely and to deliver meaningful economic benefits, including jobs, tax base growth, and infrastructure investment for parish residents.
This brief reproduces thirteen claims verbatim and provides Strategic Biofuels’ factual responses, regulatory context, and project commitments.
Activists claim that LGF will use eminent domain to “take” people’s land, implying forced relocations, and depriving owners of use and enjoyment. That is incorrect.
Fact 1. No landowner will be deprived of the use of their property. The limited surface area required for two offsite injection wells will be located on agricultural land far from homes and will be leased with generous annual payments.
Fact 2. Approximately 4 miles of 6–8-inch CO2 pipelines will connect the plant to the offsite wells. These lines will be buried deeper than the existing 24–36-inch interstate natural gas pipelines already running through the project area and will be routed across agricultural and forested land away from residences. Their presence will not change or impair existing land use.
Fact 3. Landowners will not lose access to subsurface minerals. Oil or gas that might be located above the thick confining rock that holds the CO2 in place will remain fully accessible, and any potential resources below the CO2 storage zone will remain reachable using well‑established directional drilling methods. Historical exploratory drilling and extensive geologic evaluation, including modern seismic analysis, indicate no reasonable expectation of commercial hydrocarbons in that deeper interval.
Fact 4. For subsurface storage rights, which do not affect the surface, LGF will offer attractive compensation to store CO2 in a highly secure injection zone located more than 3,800 feet below the deepest aquifer and confined by over 1,600 feet of impermeable rock. The rock is overlain by saltwater‑bearing sandstones that would absorb and dissipate anything that might leak, however unlikely. Compensation for State‑owned rights under the Ouachita River is set at a generous per‑acre price, and payments to Caldwell Parish landowners will be at least as much. Over the 30‑year project life, the total of all annual payments will exceed the current market value of surface ownership in the project area.
Fact 5. LGF expects the overwhelming majority of needed pore space to be acquired on agreeable terms that are lucrative to the landowner. By law, LGF cannot use eminent domain to acquire any landowner rights, including subsurface rights, without: (a) repeated good‑faith offers at fair market value; (b) verification by the Secretary of Conservation and Energy, after a public hearing, that there is no reasonable expectation of economically recoverable minerals beneath the CO2 storage zone; and (c) a court hearing before a district judge, who would ensure due process and set fair and reasonable compensation. Eminent domain would be considered only if unavoidable and only at the very end of development to ensure that a widely supported industrial project that benefits the parish can be completed.
Fact 6. Residents and landowners in the project area will not be negatively affected by the facility. Apart from observing robust economic activity at the Port of Columbia, impacts are expected to be positive, including likely increases in property value.
Activists claim that CO2 will escape the storage reservoir, contaminate drinking water, and that past projects, EOR operations, or earthquakes prove the point. That has never happened before.
Fact 1. There are over 150 enhanced oil recovery (EOR) projects worldwide and more than 1,100 CO2 injection wells active in the United States that have operated since the 1970s under regulations less stringent than carbon capture and storage (CCS). There have been ZERO documented cases of CO2 entering a drinking water aquifer.
Fact 2. The claim that EOR is not comparable to CCS because the CO2 is “recovered” is incorrect. EOR and CCS rely on the same subsurface trapping mechanisms that immobilize CO2. CO2 produced with oil in EOR operations is re‑injected, and over 95% of the CO2 used in EOR is ultimately retained in the reservoir, which is why EOR also qualifies for Section 45Q tax credits.
Fact 3. The Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) situation in Illinois involved a small detection in an observation well immediately above the containment zone but yet thousands of feet below the drinking water aquifer. It was isolated quickly, the observation well was repaired and redesigned, and additional rules were implemented to prevent recurrence. There was no impact on drinking water, and subsequent commercial arrangements to deliver additional CO2 to the facility indicate the matter was resolved to the satisfaction of the US EPA.
Fact 4. CO2 is naturally occurring and already present in Caldwell Parish drinking water aquifers, and it is used in high concentrations to carbonate beverages such as soft drinks and beer. The two widely cited international cases of aquifer impacts involved massive, naturally occurring CO2 releases associated with volcanic activity, and there is no risk of volcanic activity in Caldwell Parish.
Fact 5. There has never been a recorded earthquake in Caldwell Parish or elsewhere in Northeast Louisiana, and the geologic record shows no seismic events involving the proposed storage zone. All of our region is tectonically quiet and there are well-understood geologic reasons for that. Often cited reports of earthquakes in other areas of the state, where the geology is different, are irrelevant. In addition, Class VI injection‑well regulations limit operating pressure to no more than 90% of the formation’s fracture pressure, and LGF plans to operate at a much lower pressure for added margin.
Fact 6. High pressures already exist deep underground. The planned injection pressure is only about 10% higher than the existing reservoir pressure and therefore primarily reflects the pressure that already exists in the formation.
Fact 7. Related claims that industrial wastes or chemicals could be injected through the sequestration wells in the future are also false. The Class VI Sequestration Well permit restricts injections to high purity CO2 only.
Activists claim that landowners will have to file an Industrial Waste Certificate and pay higher insurance premiums if CO2 is stored beneath their property. That is incorrect.
Fact 1. Industrial Waste Certificates in Louisiana are LDEQ compliance documents for managing, transporting, or disposing of solid or hazardous chemical waste from manufacturing and industrial processes. Under Louisiana law, CO2 is defined as a “substance of public benefit” and is specifically excluded from the definition of hazardous waste, so no Industrial Waste Certificate is required for carbon capture and storage (CCS).
Fact 2. Act 461 (2024) expressly provides that landowners are not liable for CO2 sequestration activities merely because they own the land or because they allow sequestration to occur on their property. There is therefore no basis for increases in landowner insurance rates.
Fact 3. CCS liability rests solely with the operator, and state law requires uncapped operator liability. For LGF, the project will provide $50 million in guaranteed financial instruments to cover any potentially needed remediation and liability for 50 years after injection ceases and the reservoir is certified by the State as safe and fully stable, plus an additional $5 million cash fund paid to and maintained by the State for any possible remediation.
Fact 4. Having CO2 permanently stored deep underground will reward landowners with substantial annual revenues, not cost them.
Activists claim that CCS operators cannot predict which geologic zone the CO2 will enter, how far it will travel, or whether it could reach drinking water aquifers. In fact, experienced engineers and geoscientists using modern, state‑of‑the‑art tools routinely predict, model, and verify subsurface CO2 behavior.
Fact 1. In addition to evaluating decades of historical oilfield drilling data across the project area, LGF drilled a Class V stratigraphic test well along the highway to collect geologic and engineering data and to conduct the injection testing required for a Class VI permit application. LGF then engaged a highly specialized underground‑injection consulting firm with global operations to build a sophisticated reservoir model showing exactly where the CO2 will go, and commissioned a second firm using different computer software, which produced a nearly identical result.
Fact 2. After the Class VI injection wells are drilled and additional data are acquired, LGF will refine the model inputs and re‑run all simulations. Once injection begins, LGF will employ an advanced monitoring system that includes nine observation wells to track the plume and pressure front day-to-day to confirm that movement is very slow and as predicted. If needed, LGF will adjust operating parameters, all under strict regulatory reporting and oversight.
Fact 3. Class VI wells, established under the 1974 Safe Drinking Water Act, are designed with the primary goal of protecting drinking water aquifers and are far more tightly regulated than Class II wells used for injection of produced water and CO2 in oil and gas operations. Regulations require a significant upper confining zone (cap rock) to prevent CO2 from escaping the injection interval. At LGF, the storage formation is overlain by two thick designated containment zones within about 1,600 feet of impervious rock, as part of approximately 3,800 feet of geologic barriers between the injection zones and the deepest aquifer. These are the same types of geologic seals that have held oil and gas in place for millions of years.
Activists claim that once the LGF plant closes, there will be no funding to address any future issues. This is incorrect as shown in the Financial Responsibility section of LGF’s Class VI well permit application.
Fact 1. The Class VI sequestration‑well application requires a detailed well‑closure plan, including the methods that will be used to confirm full containment of the reservoir and the costs associated with those activities. LGF’s filings with the State are fully available and unredacted and were prepared with support from world‑class subsurface experts.
Fact 2. LGF bears uncapped liability and will post $50 million in financial instruments, fully paid in advance, to cover remediation for 50 years after injection ceases. In addition, the State will collect from LGF a $5 million cash fund reserved for any future remediation, and the estimated cost to remediate a sequestration well, should it ever be needed, is about $2 million.
Activists assert that there is no value in reducing carbon because there is no federal mandate and that only Europe cares about it. In reality, carbon reduction creates substantial private‑sector value, and companies actively seek it.
Fact 1. Value is created when customers purchase goods and services at prices that exceed production costs. Companies are willing to purchase electric power, Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs), and Carbon Dioxide Removal credits (CDRs) from LGF, all funded with private money, and IRS Section 45Q tax credits offset a portion of manufacturing costs, preserving revenues to retire construction debt.
Fact 2. Major Louisiana manufacturers, including members of the Louisiana Energy Users Group (LEUG), want low‑carbon, renewable energy to power their operations. This is reflected in Entergy’s commitment to the Louisiana Public Service Commission to secure 3,000 MW of renewable power, made prior to Meta entering the state, and the subsequent increase of that commitment to 4,500 MW. For manufacturers that sell into global markets, low‑carbon electric power inputs help avoid foreign taxes and tariffs and keep US products competitive; LEUG’s demand for low‑carbon power supply does not depend on a federal mandate.
Fact 3. The value of LGF does not depend on any individual’s feelings about climate change and whether it is real or not; it depends on customers’ willingness to purchase LGF’s products and services.
Activists argue that Section 45Q credits reflect corporate greed, function as an upfront federal grant of taxpayer dollars, was opposed by President Trump, are the sole revenue source for LGF, and indirectly subsidize forestry. In fact, the purpose and function of Section 45Q credits is widely misunderstood.
Fact 1. IRS Section 45Q provides credits against future corporate income taxes payable that are earned only when a facility captures and permanently stores CO2 underground. It was created to offset a portion of sequestration operating costs and encourage economic development, but credits are not earned until the facility is fully built, placed in operation, and has actually injected CO2 into the ground. In LGF’s case, the infrastructure to produce electric power, capture CO2, and store it in a secure reservoir requires nearly $2 billion of unsubsidized private investment, with construction, operations, and forestry jobs, years of paychecks, significant parish sales taxes, and ad valorem tax obligations occurring before any 45Q benefit is realized.
Fact 2. Section 45Q is a tax credit available to LGF, not a tax levied against other taxpayers. It reduces the amount of taxes LGF will owe in the early years, supporting project viability, but the main source of revenue is from privately purchased Carbon Dioxide Removal credits, not 45Q tax credits.
Fact 3. President Trump has supported 45Q and expanded it. The credit was created in the Energy Improvement and Extension Act (2008) and later expanded in the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, which President Trump signed. During his second term, 45Q was further increased in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which he also signed. He positioned carbon capture and storage (CCS) as an “energy innovation” tool that advances energy dominance. To claim he opposes a credit he expanded twice is incorrect.
Fact 4. LGF does not depend entirely on 45Q for revenues. The credit helps the project achieve a sufficient return to attract construction capital, but it expires after 12 years. Once the project’s debt is paid off, LGF can operate without the credit and pay full income taxes. The primary, ongoing revenue sources are renewable electric power sold onto the Entergy grid at available market price (no impact on consumers), Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs), and Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) credits, all purchased by the private sector, with no taxpayer funds involved.
Fact 5. Section 45Q was not created to subsidize forestry. While LGF will use forestry materials and sequester the resulting CO2, the benefit to the forestry industry arises from project‑driven demand (over 100 loads of forestry thinnings per day) rather than a dedicated forestry subsidy. Virtually every industry benefits from state and federal incentives; for example, the corn ethanol industry qualifies for IRS Section 45Z Clean Fuel Production Tax Credits that require carbon reduction, so local farmers who grow corn in Caldwell Parish also benefit.
Activists claim carbon capture and storage (CCS) is just emerging and therefore cannot be trusted, often citing the Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) project in Illinois. Perhaps unknown to many, but the technology has a 30-year operating record.
Fact 1. Initial studies on CCS were conducted 50 years ago. Since then, there have been over 50 pilot and demonstration projects that have actively injected and monitored CO2 around the world, demonstrating that CO2 can be effectively injected, stored safely, and monitored to confirm permanence.
Fact 2. The ADM project that started in 2011 was preceded by the world’s first full commercial‑scale CCS project at Sleipner, Norway, which began operation in 1996, 30 years ago and 15 years before ADM’s 2011 start. Sleipner currently injects about 1 million metric tons of CO2 per year into the Utsira Sand saline aquifer and has safely injected over 23 million metric tons to date without a leak or any other incident.
Fact 3. There are now 18 operating dedicated CCS permanent geological storage projects globally (excluding enhanced oil recovery projects), storing over 80 million metric tons of CO2, including five operating projects in the United States. None of them has experienced an incident damaging to groundwater or otherwise.
Fact 4. Over 70,000 peer‑reviewed technical articles authored by engineers and geoscientists, many from esteemed universities both in the US and worldwide, have been published on CO2 storage, applying scientific methods to observe, test, question, challenge, reproduce, and communicate results; these studies confirm both safety and permanence.
Fact 5. A technology studied for 50 years and operated at large commercial scale is not “nascent.” By any practical standard, with 30 years of commercial operation, CCS is well‑established and proven safe and effective in real‑world applications.
Activists assert that LGF will import CO2 by pipeline from third parties outside the parish for storage in Caldwell Parish and that LGF’s pipelines pose risks similar to the 2020 incident near Satartia, Mississippi. We will not bring outside CO2 to Caldwell Parish, and our small pipeline system is not comparable to the one near Satartia.
Fact 1. LGF has publicly pledged on multiple occasions to the Caldwell Parish Police Jury and to parish residents that it will not bring CO2 from outside the parish to the facility. Any available injection capacity beyond what is needed for the first phase will be reserved for LGF’s own second and likely third projects. If another industrial project seeks access to any remaining capacity, it must construct its facility in Caldwell Parish and bring the jobs and tax revenues here.
Fact 2. LGF’s pipelines will be short and small‑diameter (6–8 inches), routed from the plant to two well sites away from the Port and away from residences. The total CO2 that could be released from these short, small diameter lines will be less than 2% of the amount released from the nearly 10-mile segment of Denbury’s 24‑inch diameter pipeline near Satartia, Mississippi in 2020. That was a serious event that prompted a federal report. Although 45 people went to the emergency room for evaluation, and some received treatment, none were hospitalized due to CO2 exposure.
Fact 3. Denbury had no early warning system to alert the community and no staff present near Satartia when the incident occurred. By contrast, LGF will maintain 24/7/365 onsite trained personnel and remote monitoring with immediate notification to residents and first responders within minutes in the event of an incident. Caldwell Parish first responders will receive LGF‑funded training and equipment specifically for CO2 response. It is also important to note that in 50 years of CO2 pipeline operations, there has been no fatality and only one serious injury, which involved a backhoe, an exceptionally strong safety record.
Fact 4. Opponents also cite a 2024 leak on a 24‑inch CO2 pipeline in Sulphur, Louisiana. That event involved a small‑volume leak associated with an above‑ground O‑ring, was fully resolved within two hours, and, as a precaution, a situation appropriate “Shelter in Place” order was issued for nearby residents. No injuries were reported.
Activists assert that nationwide 45‑inch carbon dioxide (CO2) pipelines will deliver CO2 to Louisiana for disposal and that federal interstate‑pipeline laws would force LGF to accept it. There is no such plan, and LGF cannot be compelled to accept third-party CO2.
Fact 1. The claim that massive volumes of CO2 will be brought from across the country via 45‑inch pipelines to make Louisiana a “dumping ground” is based on the Net‑Zero America study, which is a theoretical academic exercise outlining possible pathways to achieve national net‑zero by 2050; one such pathway included large CO2 pipelines. There are no actual plans, no funding, and no requirement to follow that scenario or to achieve “Net‑Zero.”
Fact 2. Interstate pipeline rules do not compel any company to accept CO2 into its subsurface storage. References to “common carrier” provisions concern transportation for hire and do not extend to underground CO2 storage. LGF is not engaged in CO2 transport for others and will retain full control over access to its reservoir.
Activists argue that a carbon sequestration well could “blow out” like the Aliso Canyon natural gas leak in 2015 and create a ground‑hugging cloud. Any comparison with a well drilled in 1953 in California is misleading.
Fact 1. Aliso Canyon is a very large, decades‑old natural gas storage field with 115 wells, many originally production wells built long before current safety regulations and without downhole safety valves or active monitoring. By contrast, LGF will have only three wells into the sequestration zone, and Class VI design and safety features are highly regulated. LGF’s wells are designed by SLB (formerly Schlumberger) and will include fail‑safe downhole safety valves that automatically close even if a surface event, up to and including a bulldozer or a meteor, destroys the wellhead.
Fact 2. The Aliso Canyon leak is unrelated to Class VI sequestration wells. Its causes involved poor design for injection (such as casing metallurgy and pressure monitoring) and negligent maintenance practices (such as removing safety valves). Class VI wells are the most modern and most regulated wells, and they require constant monitoring of both the wells and the reservoir. Equating a new Class VI sequestration well with an old Aliso Canyon well drilled for natural gas production is a deceptive comparison.
Activists state that they support economic development, provided it does not involve CCS or IRS Section 45Q tax credits. Their stated position conflicts with the tools communities typically use to attract investment.
Fact 1. Favoring economic development means taking active steps to prioritize policies, investments, and actions that improve a community’s overall economic well-being, quality of life, job creation, long-term sustainability, increased tax revenues, and improved infrastructure. The activists have no proposal for economic development of any kind or how they would do this in Caldwell Parish.
Fact 2. The activists and their local leadership have publicly stated that they oppose state and federal grants, tax abatements, tax credits, and all incentives used to attract industrial development.
Fact 3. Project sponsors typically evaluate multiple sites across a region and have an obligation to select locations where standard incentive tools are available. Eliminating such incentives, as the activists propose, would significantly reduce the parish’s competitiveness for major industrial investment. As a result, claiming support for economic development while opposing the full set of tools used to secure projects is internally inconsistent with how projects are won.
Activists claim that shifting project phases from renewable diesel, to jet fuel and then to electricity shows LGF is untrustworthy. That conclusion lacks the fundamental understanding that plans for all major industrial projects are constantly refined and re-evaluated and rigorously reviewed over several years of development to ensure ultimate success.
Fact 1. Renewable diesel (RD) and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) are both biofuels, and the process differences between synthetic diesel and synthetic jet fuel are minor. The goal of Phase 2 of the project remains production of biofuel.
Fact 2. The credits for fuels did not “go away” as one speaker stated. The credits provided under the US Renewable Fuel Standard and the California Low Carbon Fuel Standard remain in place. Global markets for RD and SAF are simply expanding more slowly than predicted, so adjusting the timing of biorefinery construction is prudent.
Fact 3. Construction of a renewable electric power plant has been part of the project since 2021 and is Phase 1 today. Demand for electricity, especially renewable electricity, is growing rapidly, creating a strong opportunity now.
Fact 4. Completing a nearly $2 billion industrial project requires experienced leaders who respond to market realities and adjust accordingly. LGF’s business model has been reviewed and complimented by top‑tier business institutions around the world.
Commitment 1. LGF will not import third‑party CO2 for storage, and available capacity will prioritize in‑parish development.
Commitment 2. LGF will route pipelines away from residences, monitor them continuously, and fund training and equipment for local first responders.
Commitment 3. LGF will comply transparently with Class VI permit requirements, including recordkeeping and public reporting obligations designed to permanently protect underground sources of drinking water.
Commitment 4. LGF will pursue fair, voluntary agreements with project area landowners to the maximum extent possible and will view legal processes only as unavoidable to complete the project.