The oil and gas industry has targeted Louisiana as an emerging hub for carbon capture, mainly because of the state’s large concentration of industrial facilities that emit carbon dioxide. Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards and state regulators openly support carbon capture as a way to meet the state’s goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to net-zero by 2050.
The industrial corridor between Baton Rouge and New Orleans that’s been targeted for carbon capture is home to more than 200 oil and gas refineries, petrochemical plants, and other industrial chemical facilities. This area is known as “Cancer Alley” because decades of poor air and water quality from industrial pollution have heightened cancer rates and other health ailments among residents. The predominantly Black, Hispanic, and low-income communities in Cancer Alley suffer the brunt of these poor health outcomes; similarly, Indigenous and other marginalized groups on the coast suffer poor health effects on account of other pollution related to the petroleum industry. Now, these same communities stand to face additional degradation from carbon capture and its associated build-out.
Center for Progressive Reform Policy Analyst Katlyn Schmitt will moderate the discussion
