Louisiana public service commissioner slams carbon capture

7th August 2023   ·   0 Comments

By Piper Hutchinson
Contributing Writer

(lailluminator.com) — Davante Lewis, a newly-elected progressive Democrat on the Public Service Commission, criticized carbon capture and sequestration at a Monday meeting of the Baton Rouge press club.

“We heard a significant rise of movement about carbon capture, which I think is an untested, unproven science,” Lewis said. “That is costly, but one of the questions that we have not done our due diligence on is asking who will bear the cost if carbon capture fails?”

Lewis, who represents parts of Baton Rouge and New Orleans, raised concerns that consumers will bear the brunt of the costs if carbon capture doesn’t work.

Carbon capture is a process where industrial facilities inject and store carbon dioxide emissions below ground instead of releasing the gas into the atmosphere.

Proposed projects have drawn the ire of neighboring residents who worry about their safety and ecological damage. Environmentalists say the technology enables fossil fuel reliance.

Gov. John Bel Edwards embraced carbon capture in his plan to reach net-zero carbon emissions in Louisiana by 2050. The federal government also boosted carbon capture projects with an expanded tax credit in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.

So far, there are at least 20 capture storage sites planned for Louisiana, according to a recent report commissioned by the progressive environmental nonprofit 2030 Fund. The federal Environmental Protection Agency has received applications for the Class VI permit needed to do carbon capture on 10 sites.

Several bills aiming to reign in the burgeoning technology were killed during the legislative session earlier this year.

Lewis, who styles himself as the “consumer advocate” commissioner, pointed out that when a nuclear or natural gas power plant fails, those costs are passed along to rate-payers.

The commission also needs to ask itself whether carbon capture is a prudent investment for companies, Lewis said.

“I am questioning whether or not these investments in carbon capture and sequestration or in natural gas generation provides the security for our people’s health and their future,” Lewis said.

Lewis is advocating for a transition to virtual power plants, a system that integrates different kinds of power to enhance efficiency and ensure a reliable supply of energy.

“These virtual power plants can provide the same additional resources to protect us in a hurricane and to prevent a blackout, but at significantly lower the cost than a nuclear power plant or a natural gas power plant,” Lewis said.

A virtual power plant could save the state between $15 and $35 million in savings, Lewis said, which could be passed along to the consumer.

Lewis pointed to a school system in Arkansas that invested in solar panels and used the ensuing savings to raise teachers’ salaries.

“Energy policy is economic policy,” Lewis said.

Staff writer Claire Sullivan contributed reporting to this story.

This article originally published in the August 7, 2023 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.