Energy Policy

This white paper examines the legal and regulatory issues that arise when developing carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects, with a focus on Louisiana and comparisons to broader U.S. practices. Because CCS requires injecting carbon dioxide deep underground, operators must secure rights to use subsurface pore space—an area of law that is still evolving and differs in key ways from traditional oil and gas activity.

The paper explains why CCS developers need legal rights to pore space, touching on foundational property law concepts like ad coelum and the risk of trespass if injected CO₂ migrates beyond a project boundary. It reviews the types of agreements used to obtain pore space rights (e.g., leases, servitudes) and the compensation models associated with them. It also discusses statutory tools—such as unitization and eminent domain—that may be used when private agreements with all landowners cannot be reached.

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The LSU Center for Energy Studies released the 2026 edition of the Gulf Coast Energy Outlook (GCEO) annual report on December 10, 2025. The annual report provides an analysis of the Gulf Coast's energy landscape and its trajectory through the upcoming year.

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Researchers at LSU were commissioned by the Louisiana Department of Energy and Natural Resources (DENR) to evaluate the costs of plugging orphan and idle oil and gas wells across the state and estimate associated methane emissions. The study examines Louisiana's Oilfield Site Restoration (OSR) program, which addresses environmental concerns related to abandoned wells. Of Louisiana's more than 224,000 drilled wells, approximately 19,500 are classified as idle and nearly 4,900 as orphaned as of March 2025. Augmented by $25 million in initial federal funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, with an anticipated $156 million more, the research finds that plugging all orphan and idle wells would cost approximately $860 million—far exceeding current available funding. Key findings indicate that the orphan well backlog is growing faster than plugging activity, methane emissions vary widely among wells, and the initial federal investment has already supported approximately 120 jobs and generated $16.4 million in economic output. The study provides critical data to inform strategic methane mitigation efforts while supporting Louisiana's energy workforce and environmental goals.

On December 6, 2024, the LSU Center for Energy Studies released the 2025 edition of the Gulf Coast Energy Outlook, providing comprehensive analysis of the region's energy landscape and trajectory. The report examines the Gulf Coast's vital role in global energy production and exports, forecasting sustained growth in regional oil and gas production. Crude oil output is expected to rise from 9.8 million barrels per day in 2024 to 11.6 million barrels per day by 2032, while natural gas production is projected to expand from 55.4 billion cubic feet per day to 63 billion cubic feet per day. The report highlights $60 billion in announced regional investments for 2025, with nearly equal emphasis on liquefied natural gas developments ($27 billion) and energy transition projects ($25 billion) including hydrogen, ammonia, and carbon capture technologies. U.S. LNG exports from the Gulf Coast have surged from 6.5 billion cubic feet per day in 2020 to 11.6 billion cubic feet per day in 2024, positioning the region as a critical stabilizing force in global energy markets. The outlook underscores the Gulf Coast's strategic balance between traditional energy production and decarbonization initiatives while adapting to evolving global energy demands.

A report from LSU's Center for Energy Studies estimates that a planned carbon capture and sequestration hub in Calcasieu Parish could abate climate damage, support jobs, and protect the energy industry by capturing industrial carbon emissions and storing carbon dioxide permanently underground. Prepared for Gulf Coast Sequestration (GCS), the report examines the regional and national economic implications of the first hub in the United States designed to permanently store carbon dioxide emissions from large industrial facilities. Located near an important industrial corridor that includes some of the largest fuel and petrochemical manufacturers in the U.S., the hub targets "hard-to-abate" emissions for which carbon capture and storage offers a clear pathway to improved carbon footprints in a low-carbon environment. The study found that the GCS project could abate climate damages by $11.3 billion over its lifetime by sequestering 300 million tons of CO2, contribute an estimated $698 million in earnings for U.S. workers during the five-year construction period, and support more than 1,149 jobs nationally during construction. Once operational, the project is expected to support approximately 375 jobs annually while assisting in the decarbonization of an industry that employs approximately 150,000 workers directly in Texas and Louisiana. The report emphasizes that successful decarbonization can create a competitive advantage for the region, protecting existing jobs while attracting new investments to the Gulf Coast.

In response to numerous inquiries regarding the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 and the 45Q tax credit, which incentivizes the use of carbon capture and storage, faculty from the Center for Energy Studies, the LSU Department of Environmental Sciences, and the LSU Cain Department of Chemical Engineering have developed a brief document that describes the nature of CO2, defines utilization and storage, identifies risks involved in the process, and explains why the Gulf Coast region is being considered for CCUS.

In 2021, President Biden signed Executive Order (EO) 14008, Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad. While the executive order’s focus is climate change, one notable component is the Justice40 Initiative, a goal that 40 percent of the overall benefits from certain federal investments flow to disadvantaged communities. As a result, grantmaking agencies are now considering the community benefits associated with proposed projects. Because of Justice40, an understanding of EJ, and how a project might promote EJ for local communities, is critical for many federally funded projects. EJ is also important for all businesses and industries to understand as it impacts their social licenses to operate and can impact the ability to make future investments.