The goal of the briefing is to share more details about the process and Project Cypress, and to hear feedback and questions from local stakeholders. The Alliance encourages you to make your voice heard and attend the community briefing in person on Tuesday, November 7, 2023 from 5:30-7:30pm at West Cal Arena & Events Center, Cypress Room (401 Arena Rd, Sulphur, LA 70665). Unfortunately, this briefing will not be streamed or recorded.
Previously, the DOE abruptly changed the date of the Community Briefing from September 22 to September 19, prompting concerns that community members who had been planning to attend would no longer be able to participate. Due to local feedback on the previously selected date, the community briefing has been postponed from September 19 until November 7th. Thanks to the power of collective action Louisianans now have the time they need to meaningfully engage.
The Alliance is pleased to see the DOE remediate the situation by postponing the briefing to November 7, ensuring Calcasieu Parish residents can offer their voices and perspectives on decisions being made about the community they live in.
The Alliance’s thoughts Project Cypress: Similar to carbon capture & sequestration (CCS), direct air capture is not a climate solution; it is a dangerous, expensive, and unproven technology. Real solutions for climate change do exist, supported by LA communities. Our leaders should focus on strategies that maximize public benefit and ensure a stable and safe economic future for Louisiana and its people. Direct air capture does not fit that bill.
It’s not just The Alliance that has concerns about CCS and its cousin, direct air capture. On August 1, 2023 thirty-nine Senate Republicans, including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), sent a letter to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael Regan. In that letter, the GOP senators voiced concern that carbon capture and sequestration technologies “are still nascent and have not yet been adequately demonstrated.”
