Editor’s Note: This is Part 2 of a two-part series on carbon capture and sequestration by Louisiana Rep. Charles “Chuck” Owen (R-Leesville). Find Part 1 here.

In the previous (first) iteration of this discussion, we covered the ground truth about one of the foundational reasons given for Louisiana considering and seemingly running fast towards an embrace of carbon capture and sequestration (CCS).   We reviewed the facts of how the world market is NOT demanding Louisiana—or anyone else we can find—to physically sequester (bury) captured carbon as a part of purchasing our oil and gas products, primarily liquified natural gas.    The fact is, the world market is not doing what some have said.    We hear of desires for it, but as recently as 2024, Germany signed a long- term agreement for American LNG with NO specific ties to a requirement for sequestering carbon.

The article ended with the lingering question, then, as to WHY we are embracing this pointless and maybe dangerous activity.    There are two reasons I can find—money or ideology.    Money is an incentive some, but it can be a destructive force when that’s all you want.     Ideology is a powerful motivator, and it’s hard to understand in this case.  Let’s look at money, first

Federal Incentives:  The Biden Administration’s U.S. Inflation Reduction Act (2022) boosted a tax credit for participating in the activity of carbon sequestration.   They almost doubled the incentive from what it had been, pushing it from $50 to $85 per ton of sequestered carbon.  These credits are covered in a part of federal law known as 45Q.   Some very BIG and powerful companies have embraced this activity and they are running in Louisiana trying to garner the lands for wells and pipelines with which to use for the sequestration activity.

While there is a seemingly urgent desire to secure land and put carbon beneath the earth, something that is often forgotten is the other components to the 45Q program.   There is a utilization component (vice storage) that might just make this more palatable.  The oil and gas industry has utilized carbon for years in getting extra oil out of the ground, and my friends in the oil and gas world are quick to point this out.   So, why not consider other elements of the 45Q law that allows for the carbon to be sequestered in things like concrete, fertilizer production, the food and beverage industry or the chemical industry?

There is great emphasis on hurrying up and burying probably dangerous carbon below our water table, but why not just consider a capital investment to build concrete plants, fertilizer plants or things along those lines?  Why is burying the seemingly only option?

Ideology Driven: It feels odd to be offering up alternatives to capturing carbon, honestly, when I don’t believe it’s necessary at all.    I’m offering these options as an example that with a little bit of creativity, we can avoid the terrible eventuality that burying carbon in rural Louisiana might cause.    But it merits a point of discussion at this juncture to examine WHY anyone would WANT to capture carbon dioxide.

The conservatives and pro-business entities who are embracing this reality are, whether they know it or not, being coopted by a very false and wicked ideology.   The very idea that we have too much carbon dioxide on the planet is at best laughable, and at the worst, a deception based on unsettled science.  I’m anxious to have a discussion with anyone who wants to argue the need for doing this from a scientific perspective.  I don’t anticipate a taker in this debate but if someone wants to come out, I’ll be ready.   You bring your team, and I’ll bring mine.

The truth is that no one (or very few) in a position of authority to make CCS happen in Louisiana really believes it’s necessary because they know it’s not.  They are zeroing in on this activity because there is money on the ground.   But these good people are being used as pawns by faceless industries or leftist radicals as marionettes who want to see a conflict among allies.

SEND IT TO PLACES THAT WANT IT.    The turmoil over CCS is real.  I ran a poll in my home district.  All of 7 percent of respondents said they were in favor of this business activity (or whatever you want to call it) coming to our part of the world.   My plea as a legislator and as a citizen of a place that has been decimated repeatedly by government dictates and enormous land grabs is PLEASE, if you know places that want to receive carbon buried below their ground, send it there.  Consider sending it parishes that want it or consider an off-shore burial option.  Don’t send it to us.    But if you MUST send it to us, build us a concrete factory or a fertilizer plant.  Or ANYTHING.   There are lots of options.

SOURCES AND METHODS:   All of the information in this article (both of them) were found via library and web searches in places like JSTOR, GROK and Google.

Charles “Chuck” Owen is a 2^nd Term State Legislator, representing the 30^th District of Louisiana (Vernon and Beauregard Parishes).   He Chairs the House Select Committee on Military & Veteran Affairs, is Vice Chair of the Select Committee on Homeland Security, and is a member of on the Education, Appropriations and Municipal, Parochial and Cultural Affairs committees.  Owen is a member of the Rural Caucus, the Central Louisiana Delegation, the Republican Delegation and is a founding member of the Louisiana Freedom Caucus.   He is a retired Air Force intelligence officer with 4 wartime deployments.  He resides in his hometown of Leesville and teaches at the collegiate level for four universities as an adjunct faculty member.   He holds a Ph.D. from LSU and a BS and MBA from Louisiana Tech.