Air Products to excavate 370 Olympic swimming pools for clean energy project

(The Center Square) − Air Products’ proposed clean energy megaproject spanning five Louisiana parishes would excavate and move more than 2.2 million cubic yards of material — the equivalent of about 370 Olympic-sized swimming pools — as part of its construction, according to filings with the Louisiana Department of Energy and Natural Resources. The plan includes a low-carbon hydrogen and ammonia production facility with extensive supporting infrastructure that includes a 40-mile carbon dioxide pipeline, a 2-mile hydrogen pipeline, and a 19-mile natural gas pipeline.It also proposes up to 10 carbon injection wells and six monitoring wells for carbon sequestration beneath Lake Maurepas.Joseph Heintz with the Office of Coastal Management stated the project could permanently “impact” more than 258 acres of wetlands, marshes, water bottoms, and uplands, including 235 acres of swamp.Temporary impacts would affect an additional 282 acres across multiple ecosystems, including fresh marsh, scrub-shrub wetlands, and upland agriculture, according to Heintz. Sharon Pecquet, also with the Office of Coastal Management, flagged that the project would directly impact areas previously protected by mitigation agreements.”The proposed project is anticipated to have permanent impacts to forested wetland habitat within the conservation servitudes… and to the cypress plantings,” Pecquet said.Pecquet added that Air Products must either reroute infrastructure to avoid these areas or provide documentation from servitude holders authorizing the use.The $4.5 billion Louisiana Clean Energy Complex, announced in 2021, would be among the largest of its kind.Air Products Vice President Andrew Connolly previously described it as a “landmark” project that aims to capture and store more than 95% of the facility’s carbon dioxide emissions deep underground.The facility is expected to create 2,000 construction jobs and 170 permanent positions, expanding the company’s Louisiana workforce by over 50%.Air Products already operates 18 facilities in Louisiana and owns a hydrogen pipeline system that runs between Texas and Louisiana — the largest in the world.Connolly has testified that the project aligns with both state and federal climate goals and that the company is committed to “safe, transparent and responsible” development.At a hearing two years ago, Rep. Kimberly Coates, who had just been elected at the time, warned of disturbing changes to the lake’s ecosystem.”Continuing to move forward with this project is very concerning with what’s happening to this estuary and this ecosystem,” Coates said, citing reports from crabbers and fishermen. “There is something that is unusual and growing on the crabs… and residents are very concerned.”Coates referenced a federally funded environmental study and a book which chronicled decades of industrial degradation in the Maurepas and Manchac swamps.”Louisiana has a long history of ravaging this environment for the sake of profit,” Coates said. “There are already jobs and businesses on this lake… and they’re already struggling. And this project hasn’t even begun.”The proposed carbon sequestration effort includes both northern and southern stratigraphic test wells under Lake Maurepas.Air Products has completed a seismic survey of the lakebed and is proceeding with site development, pending further permits and approvals.The project footprint spans Ascension, Livingston, St. James, St. John the Baptist and Tangipahoa parishes, and includes permanent and temporary access roads, staging and laydown yards, aboveground pipeline facilities, and a vast subsurface network for carbon storage.