Be Careful Who Your Friends Are
Louisiana lawmakers should be proud that the state is a leader in energy innovation. Few places have Louisiana’s combination of industrial expertise, skilled workers, and infrastructure. That is exactly why carbon capture and storage (CCS) represents such a major opportunity for Louisiana. CCS can protect jobs, strengthen Louisiana’s manufacturing base, and help keep the state competitive as global energy markets evolve. But as the state moves forward, lawmakers should be careful about one thing: who is driving the loudest opposition.
In recent years, a growing network of far left environmental NGOs has been funded and mobilized by anti-oil and gas billionaires and foundations to target Louisiana’s energy infrastructure. Their targets are wide-ranging, including LNG exports, petrochemical facilities, pipeline development, and now carbon capture. These groups often claim they are simply focused on local health, safety, or landowner rights. In reality, many of their leaders and allies have admitted their true goal is to end the use of fossil fuels completely.
Carbon capture is a Louisiana solution, one that allows the state to keep producing energy, keep manufacturing, and keep employing tens of thousands of workers, while reducing emissions. CCS is one of the most practical tools available for heavy industry, and it is an approach supported by engineers, labor, and many in the business community. Yet it has become the newest target of activists whose ideological mission is to stop industrial development altogether.
The funding behind these campaigns is also telling. According to Foundation Center data, at least $50 million in out-of-state money has flowed into Louisiana over the past four years to support these ENGO networks. Major funders include Michael Bloomberg, George Soros, Jeff Bezos, the Rockefeller network, the Tides Foundation, the Arabella Network, and other prominent liberal foundations. Public records also show that some of these groups received more than $30 million in federal taxpayer funding from the Biden Administration’s EPA to push so-called “environmental justice” initiatives.
Some organizations present themselves as local or even “conservative,” but coordinate with national activists like the Sierra Club. Far from conservative! The new President of the Louisiana CO2 Alliance has even attacked President Trump online, calling him “an idiot with idiots following him.” That is not Louisiana-first advocacy, it is national politics dressed up as grassroots.
Meanwhile, these ENGOs are waging lawfare, filing lawsuits designed to delay projects, raise costs, and drive away investment. Save My Louisiana has openly stated that its goal is to create delays so expensive that companies abandon their plans.
Louisiana lawmakers should not be intimidated out of supporting carbon capture. They should demand transparency, enforce safety, and protect landowners, while also recognizing that CCS is critical to Louisiana’s economic future. And they should remember: the loudest voices against carbon capture may not be your neighbors. They may be far left activists funded by billionaires who do not want Louisiana to succeed at all.
Much more to come.