Louisiana’s two new carbon removal sites promise 1,000 jobs

BOSSIER La. (KTAL/KMSS) — Two new facilities are projected to create approximately 1,000 jobs for Northwest Louisiana and eliminate hundreds of thousands of tons of carbon emissions from the air.

“The building of that plant here will be a shot in the arm for the local economy,” said Bossier Parish Police Jury member Doug Rimmer.

The $500 million project to build two Direct Air Capture plants in Lake Charles and Shreveport, Louisiana.

Once operational, the Heirloom Project is anticipated to eliminate approximately 17,000 tons of CO2 per year; District 8’s Juror Rimmer shares that it will significantly impact the Port of Caddo/Bossier.

Louisiana has experienced more frequent disasters strengthened by human-caused climate change and warmer ocean temperatures. Most notably Hurricane Beryl and supercell storms in June of 2023, which members of the community are still recovering from.

He and several other Bossier Parish Police Jurors and staff attended a meeting at the port last Wednesday, at which Heirloom Technology and the Department of Energy shared the news.

Rimmer believes this new technology could have a significant and long-lasting impact in the area for many years.

Bossier Parish Police Jury posted via social media, Heirloom officials have projected that the plant will generate approximately 1,000 new clean energy jobs, further solidifying the Gulf Coast’s leadership in DAC technologies and advancing American leadership in meeting net-zero goals.’

They say the first facility is scheduled to begin construction later this year and is projected to be operational by 2026.

They state that three major projects are underway:

• the North/South Corridor,
• HWY 614/Covington Road,
• and the White Oak Ditch Project.

Associated Press reported, ‘while the removal of 320,000 tons of carbon dioxide is minute compared to the billions of metric tons of carbon pollution poured into the air each year, advocates of the technology say any little bit helps.’