(The Center Square) – The Louisiana Department of Energy and Natural Resources is reviewing a growing number of applications for Class V carbon storage test wells, a necessary precondition for constructing a Class VI carbon capture well.
Eight Class V permits are currently pending before the agency, with 22 already issued, according to state data.
Currently, the state is reviewing 33 applications for Class VI wells, which are wells constructed for the injection and long-term storage of carbon dioxide underground.
Class V wells, which are typically drilled thousands of feet deep, are used to collect critical subsurface data before companies seek Class VI permits.
At a recent public hearing in Iberville Parish, the state heard comments on ExxonMobil Low Carbon Solutions’ application for one such well, to be drilled on privately owned farmland currently used for sugarcane production.
Keith Hall, director of LSU’s Mineral Law Institute, explained that Class V wells allow companies to gather information about pressures, rock permeability, and formation samples that would be necessary to prepare a full Class VI permit application.
“The purpose of such a well is to gather information about the subsurface,” Hall said, noting that companies use the data to determine whether a site is viable for CO₂ storage.
The project drew both support and opposition.
Sierra Club representative Darryl Malek-Wiley argued that the department’s review process was too narrow, saying two separate Exxon permits — in Iberville and St. Landry parishes — were “word-for-word” copies despite different geology and conditions.
“The department needs to do more than just look for technically correct documents,” Malek-Wiley said, warning that Exxon’s $13 million investment in the test well suggests a future application for a Class VI well and CO₂ pipeline.
In response, the state said that “these projects and the surrounding ecosystems are very similar, despite being located approximately fifty miles apart. Because the wellbore construction for both applications is similar, the conclusions regarding the absence of environmental impact are likewise similar and meet the State’s minimum requirements.”
Supporters highlighted the economic potential. Anna Johnson of the West Baton Rouge Chamber of Commerce told regulators that carbon storage projects “help factories, data centers and auto and steel plants make lower-carbon products, keeping Louisiana competitive globally.”
She added that a single storage project can generate tens of millions in local tax revenue, support schools and emergency services, and result in more than $100 million in combined lease and easement payments to landowners.
Exxon has committed to restoring the farmland to pre-existing agricultural conditions after testing.
Still, some local residents expressed caution.
“Everybody talks about the economics and the money on this thing, and what I want to know is if anybody’s ever considered the cash value of our economy and the next generation,” resident Kurt Unkel said. “What’s the value we can put on the next generation with the problems we’re going to leave them?”
Louisiana’s deep experience in energy production, its extensive industrial base, and its location near major carbon emitters make it a prime candidate for large-scale carbon capture, utilization and storage projects.
Further, the state’s permitting framework — including the Class VI process and Underground Injection Control program — is designed to speed project approvals while upholding strong environmental and public safety standards.
These advantages have been a chief selling point for the technology, but it has received pushback. When the Legislature considered a series of bills in April to limit the technology, the committee room was packed with activists and local residents. A Facebook group known as The People of Louisiana Against Carbon Capture and Sequestration has over 7,000 members. A petition asking the state for a total ban on carbon capture has over 4,000 signatures.
In recent days, the Facebook group has been perhaps more active than ever, with residents up in arms about a couple of recent decisions that gave the green light to carbon capture projects. Last week, the Vernon Parish Police Jury rescinded a set of ordinances that restricted carbon capture.
“To our local elected public servants here in Vernon Parish: you work for the residents of this parish. We are your employer, you are the employee, and we the people pay your checks so you can provide for your families, keep a roof over their heads, put food on the table, and drive the automobiles we pay for,” Randy Stephens wrote. “You should stand up and fight for the people who put you in office. Fight to stop this CCS from coming into our parish before it is destroyed, the water is contaminated, and people’s properties are taken away.”
