A Louisiana House panel in Baton Rouge on Tuesday shut down a proposal that would have stripped private companies of the power to use eminent domain for carbon capture pipelines and underground storage. After a nearly five-hour, standing-room-only hearing, the House Committee on Natural Resources and Energy opted to involuntarily defer House Bill 7, effectively killing it in committee. The measure, filed by Rep. Mike Johnson, R-Pineville, was promoted as the Louisiana Landowners Protection Act, as reported by the Louisiana Legislature.
How the bill would have changed the law
House Bill 7 targeted parts of a 2020 law that currently allow companies to secure easements for carbon sequestration projects and provide a path for private parties to seek expropriation, according to the Louisiana Legislature. The bill would have repealed those provisions and cut off that expropriation route, forcing developers to rely on voluntary deals with landowners instead of court-ordered takings. The Legislature’s bill page lists HB7 as prefiled by Johnson and shows the measure was considered and then involuntarily deferred by the committee.
Heated hearing and local reaction
The crowd overwhelmed the committee room, with latecomers routed to overflow spaces as landowners, parish officials and industry lobbyists clashed over the proposal, according to New Orleans CityBusiness. After hours of testimony and pointed questioning, the panel voted 12 to 7 to shelve the bill, a tally reported by KPLC. Johnson told lawmakers he introduced HB7 to “right a wrong” and said he now regrets voting for the 2020 statute.
Industry warns of lost investment
Industry representatives countered that removing eminent domain authority would inject uncertainty into carbon capture projects and push investment and jobs to other states. David Cresson, president of the Louisiana Chemical Association, told legislators that projects tied to carbon capture in Louisiana are valued at more than 100 billion dollars and warned that the money “will go elsewhere,” as reported by the Rapides Parish Journal. Independent tracking underscores the size of the build-out: the Environmental Integrity Project counted at least 65 proposed carbon capture projects in Louisiana as of January 2026.
Legal context and what is next
Some opponents of the 2020 framework have already moved the fight into the courts. A lawsuit filed in November 2025 asks judges to declare laws passed since 2020 unconstitutional and to halt permitting tied to carbon sequestration projects, according to New Orleans CityBusiness. During the committee hearing, regulators and industry officials stressed that expropriation is already restricted to limited situations, such as when a pipeline is treated as a common carrier, a legal point raised in coverage of the debate. HB7 may be stalled in committee, but sponsors say they plan to keep pushing related measures and carry their arguments into the Senate before the session ends.
For now, the committee’s action leaves the 2020 law in place and shifts the next round of battles to parish-level and statewide proposals, including bills that would give parishes a local veto over projects, according to the Rapides Parish Journal. Lawmakers have until June 1 to move those measures, and both property-rights advocates and industry backers seem to agree on at least one thing: this fight over land and carbon is not going away anytime soon.
