(Editor’s Note—A public hearing will be held at the Hackberry Community Center, 980 Main St. in Hackberry at 6 p.m. on Monday, May 5 as per a legal notice published in the Cameron Pilot on Thursday, Apr. 3.)

Recently, the Louisiana Department of Energy and Natural Resources (LDENR) released a Draft Permit authorizing Hackberry Carbon Sequestration, LLC (HCS) to develop and operate a Class VI injection well for CO2 storage in Cameron Parish.

The permit, listed under ORDER NO. IMD 2025-04 GS, was prepared by the agency’s Injection and Mining Division.

This marks the first Draft Permit issued by LDENR since the department was granted primacy over Class VI wells.

HCS’s application seeks approval to drill and operate a single Class VI well in Section 12, Township 12 South, Range 11 West of Cameron Parish.

The planned well would reach a depth of roughly 10,100 feet beneath the surface. Notably, the nearest underground source of drinking water lies at about 1,090 feet, and no registered water wells exist within a one-mile radius of the site.

According to HCS’s proposal, the well would be used to inject and permanently store around 2 million metric tons of carbon dioxide each year over an estimated 20-year period.

Relevant: Environmental Group Files Lawsuit Against Louisiana Over CO2 Pipeline

The CO2 would be sourced from Cameron LNG, LLC’s liquefied natural gas export facility.

If finalized, this permit would authorize the first Class VI well in Louisiana since the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) transferred regulatory control to the state in December 2023.

However, it’s important to note that the EPA’s decision to delegate primacy is currently being challenged in the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, where environmental organizations are seeking to overturn the handover.