Democrat Gov. John Bel Edwards finds it necessary to defend his enthusiasm for carbon capture and sequestration projects, which means Louisianans need to defend themselves from his pro-CCS policy.
Last week, the process drew near the end on one of three large CCS projects currently announced in its seeking state permission with hearings about pumping carbon collected from air emissions into a well drilled under Lake Maurepas. The desire for CCS spawns from the speculative and unverified belief that too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere somehow will raise worldwide temperatures enough as to trigger catastrophic anthropogenic global warning.
This alarmist faith, in the minds of its acolytes (although some reject CCS because they irrationally hate the use of fossil fuels), justifies the ruinous expenses associated with CCS, even as altogether projects in use or planned would rein in about a fifth of their goal of over 1.25 trillion metric tons a year by 2050 as part of a net zero emissions strategy in concert with other tactics. It would require enormous government subsidization to make the effort anywhere near cost effective.
Of which an attempt was made last year an earlier this year by Washington Democrats who put Americans on the hook for hundreds of billions of dollars to cram CAGW alarmist policy down the country’s throat. As part of that, what is known as 45Q tax credits were supercharged which address CCS. In essence, under certain conditions firms can grift taxpayers enough to make CCS cost effective.
Fossil fuel firms have the greatest incentive to do this since they can use captured carbon to inject into oil wells to recover more produce, then sell it in at attempt to generate more profit that the credits can offset taxes upon (or sell these to others). These laws also make unions a big winner since one bonus provision, which is necessary to have any hope of making the credit cost effective, requires these projects pay “prevailing wage” – the average wage paid to similarly employed workers in a specific occupation in the area of intended employment – because unions in their bargaining can inflate that wage and so the requirement prevents using on such projects more efficient and less costly labor that would save taxpayer dollars.
Edwards places great emphasis on the CCS tactic because ideologically it meets his alarmist goals and politically it coopts industry – the largest emitter of carbon dioxide in the state where 64 sites that could qualify for the credits emit 78 percent of the state’s volume – into doing his dirty work bribed with the people’s money. Thus, when asked about CCS in light of the hearings where testimony mostly criticized the permitting, he expressed continued support for CCS yet appropriated the bulk of the complaints as a caveat, that regulators scrutinize plans to ensure safety, rather than other more salient concerns.
Such as the cost issue, as well as giving short shrift to other inconvenient facts like the process of CCS itself releases carbon and, determined by research specifically in Louisiana, causes methane emission, a gas many times theoretically more likely than carbon dioxide to cause warming. It also ignores the resistance put up by local governments to CCS wells, epitomized by a court case involving the Lake Maurepas plans.
There, Livingston Parish has sued to stop a preliminary step towards bringing that CCS project online. Next month a state district court will consider the case, which will rest on whether the parish has the jurisdiction over that area to place a drilling moratorium in place.
In the face of CCS mania, more informed and reasonable minds in Louisiana than Edwards’ should act. The state’s Geologic Sequestration of Carbon Dioxide Act governs the CCS process, encouraging largely that applicants pay for it, but does put the state on the hook for as much as three-quarters of a million dollars a year for administration.
The Legislature, if necessary next year over Edwards veto attempts, can do more to preserve taxpayer dollars and local autonomy. It can refuse steadfastly to enact any type of tax credit to aid these schemes and enhance the ability of local governments to refuse to accede to these projects. On the flip side of that, it also must turn back any attempted extension of legislation from last year to other parishes that effectively gave Cameron Parish expropriation powers to prevent mineral rights owners from drilling activities around potential CCS storage sites if they hadn’t done these recently and the potential materials capture was deemed insufficient.
It's bad enough that Louisianans already will be forced to waste their federal tax dollars on dubious CCS schemes, so it’s incumbent on the Legislature to ensure this lunacy doesn’t throw good state tax dollars after it. If the private sector wants to lose its shirt on these deals then that’s its business, but no state tax resources should be involved and local interests should have more of a say in whether they want to get roped into this.
No comments:
Post a Comment