A Tangipahoa Parish lawmaker wants to suspend drilling of carbon capture wells in Lake Maurepas. Rep. Bill Wheat (R–Ponchatoula) says he will file a bill for the regular legislative session in April that would impose a moratorium on carbon sequestration, until certain environmental concerns are addressed.
Wheat says the technology is somewhat new and there are a lot of questions.
“Whether this technology is the right fit for our Lake Maurepas, with all the sensitivities that it has…with being the estuary for crabs and shrimp, and all the folks that enjoy the recreation on the lake,” said Wheat.
Air Products plans to build a $4.5 billion hydrogen producing plant in Ascension Parish, and inject the plant’s carbon emissions deep under Lake Maurepas. Wheat says his bill is not an anti-carbon drilling crusade, but rather one aimed at defending a fragile ecosystem.
“My legislation is going to be very targeted to a specific, very targeted area of our state (that) our natural resources call Lake Maurepas and the surrounding Wildlife Management Area,” he said.
Wheat says the public has far too little information on what is planned for Lake Maurepas to be 100-percent comfortable with it. He says the legislature needs to “put the brakes on.”
“Let’s slow this process down. One of the bills that I will introduce is the moratorium on that activity until such time that the (Department of Natural Resources) conference on it gets caught up with what’s happening there,” Wheat said.
Wheat says he will file a second bill to assure that any future carbon drilling projects must pass strict environmental impact study.
