Protect Our Water — The Hidden Threat Beneath Louisiana’s Soil

Louisiana’s Water Is in the Crosshairs

 

How CCS Endangers the Chicot Aquifer

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"Louisiana currently has 33 pending Class VI carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) projects totaling 107 proposed injection wells across multiple parishes. Many of these wells are located within or adjacent to the Chicot Aquifer—the primary freshwater source for much of central and southwestern Louisiana. These projects collectively represent a statewide experiment in long-term CO₂ storage that carries substantial risks to human health, groundwater integrity, ecosystems, and private property.”
— Executive Summary, CCS Environmental Impact Report

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“The Chicot Aquifer System spans roughly 9,500 square miles and supplies over 700,000 people across 15 parishes with drinking, irrigation, and industrial water. It is composed of highly permeable sands and gravels that store fresh water at shallow depths—making it extremely vulnerable to both pressure migration and contamination from deeper CO₂ injection.”

— Geological and Chemical Risks

“Pressure Transmission: CO₂ injection creates large pressure fronts that can extend miles from each well. If the caprock integrity is imperfect or faults exist, these pressure changes can push brine and dissolved CO₂ upward into freshwater zones.

 

Brine Displacement: Rising saline water can raise chloride, sulfate, and TDS levels, harming crops, municipal systems, and private wells.
 

Chemical Reactions: Dissolved CO₂ forms carbonic acid, which lowers pH, dissolves minerals, and mobilizes arsenic, lead, manganese, and iron.”

 

— Sources: U.S. EPA Class VI Technical Guidance (2013); Little et al., Environmental Earth Sciences (2013); USGS Chicot Aquifer Hydrogeologic Framework (2020).

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If these Louisiana projects proceed, expected consequences include:
• Permanent loss of potable water through acidification and salinity increase.
• Contamination migration through interconnected sand lenses, impacting municipal and agricultural wells.
• Infrastructure corrosion due to altered groundwater chemistry.
• Subsidence and wetland collapse from subsurface pressure changes.
• Ecological harm to bayous, lakes, and estuaries fed by Chicot discharge, threatening fisheries and wildlife.

 

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