A proposed 50-mile carbon dioxide pipeline that would cut through cypress swamp and pass near schools and homes in Livingston Parish has residents on edge, with some pointing to a 2020 pipeline rupture in Mississippi that sent dozens of people to the hospital as their worst fear realized. CF Industries wants to build the line to move carbon dioxide from a new ammonia plant to an underground injection site, and neighbors along the route say they still do not know exactly how close it will come to their front doors.
The pipeline would stretch from Ascension Parish to Livingston Parish, crossing through a cypress swamp as well as near schools and residential areas, according to Louisiana Illuminator. It would carry carbon dioxide from CF Industries' new ammonia plant in Modeste to an underground injection site in Holden, and property owners along the route have raised concerns about proximity to homes and schools, emergency preparedness and limited information, according to reporting first published by New Orleans CityBusiness. The dossier's underlying sourcing describes the volume differently depending on the source: Louisiana Illuminator reports the pipeline would transport a projected 2.3 million tons of carbon dioxide annually, while a joint venture announcement from 1PointFive describes a 25-year offtake agreement for approximately 2.3 million metric tons of CO2 per year tied to the same ammonia facility.
A Route That Keeps Shifting
The pipeline's endpoint is the Pelican Sequestration Hub in Holden, a joint venture between 1PointFive, an Occidental subsidiary, and Enbridge Inc., according to the Livingston Parish News. The proposed route runs north of Holden, though the same report notes final maps have not been determined. That uncertainty has already played out for at least one landowner: the pipeline was originally supposed to cut through Irene Moore's property on the Amite River but is now planned for farther away, per Louisiana Illuminator's reporting, though CF Industries has not offered an official explanation for the relocation.
Gabrielle Settoon lives in Satsuma about 30 yards from where the pipeline is planned, and she says its proximity to her property causes anxiety, the outlet reports. Danny Aydell, a Livingston Parish landowner, has criticized Governor Landry's support for carbon capture projects, according to the same account. Louisiana Bucket Brigade led a tour for reporters and residents near the proposed pipeline route in Livingston Parish this week, giving neighbors a chance to see the corridor for themselves.
Emergency Response Still Being Worked Out
Livingston Parish's Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness office is already conducting preliminary work to evaluate the risks and develop the necessary emergency response plans should the pipeline be built, the Livingston Parish News reports. Blane Smiley has said the French Settlement community lacks emergency services equipped to handle a CO2 pipeline rupture, according to the reporting underlying this story. The pipeline would pass near the Maurepas swamp, French Settlement High School and an elementary school, raising the stakes for local emergency planners even before a final route is locked in.
Residents' fears are shaped in part by what happened outside Satartia, Mississippi, in February 2020, when a carbon dioxide pipeline ruptured and more than 200 people evacuated while at least 45 people were hospitalized, according to NPR. The rupture spewed CO2 for about four hours starting at 7:06 p.m., and because carbon dioxide displaced oxygen in the air, combustion engines needed to run stopped working, stranding drivers and slowing evacuation and rescue efforts, NPR reported. It is not the only comparison Livingston Parish residents have raised: a Denbury pipeline leak in Calcasieu Parish in April 2024 forced a shelter-in-place order from local government, according to Louisiana Illuminator, and a proposed Exxon carbon pipeline in St. James Parish would pass just 155 feet from a business and 355 feet from the nearest residence, per The Lens.
Permits Pending Amid a Statewide Buildout
A permit for the Holden injection well still awaits approval from the Louisiana Department of Conservation and Energy, and the Pelican Sequestration Hub is the only CO2 injection well application submitted for Livingston Parish, according to Louisiana Illuminator. Statewide, the department lists 23 active applications for carbon storage projects, each representing between one and eight wells. Louisiana has permitted three CO2 injection wells so far, in Ascension, Cameron and Caldwell parishes, while eight carbon storage permits have been suspended, withdrawn or placed on hold and one has been rejected, per the same reporting.
Governor Landry issued a moratorium on new carbon capture projects in October 2025, halting review and approval of new carbon injection well applications, though his executive order allowed continued processing of more than 30 permit submissions that were already received before the order took effect. CF Industries did not respond to emails and a call requesting comment for the underlying report. The company's Modeste ammonia plant sits just upriver from Donaldsonville, and the broader push toward carbon pipelines is playing out nationally as well: the U.S. has about 5,300 miles of CO2 pipelines today, but that network could grow to more than 65,000 miles in the coming decades, according to NPR, while the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration has estimated the country will ultimately need 50,000 miles of such lines to support anticipated growth in carbon capture and sequestration, per Louisiana Illuminator's separate reporting on pipeline oversight.
