Louisiana House lawmakers advanced a watered-down proposal Tuesday to bring more public oversight and safety guidelines to carbon storage projects after the state allowed drilling within an environmentally recovering ecosystem despite widespread opposition from residents and local governments.
House Bill 516, sponsored by Rep. Shane Mack, R-Albany, cleared the lower chamber without objection as floor proceedings wound down following hours of debate on so-called “culture war” bills.
Although Mack’s bill picked up a floor amendment that essentially overhauled the proposal, it did not draw a single question from the 100 or so lawmakers preparing to adjourn for the day.
The bill is essentially a continuation of what the freshman legislator worked on as a Livingston Parish Council member, which included a parishwide moratorium on injection wells and requiring carbon storage projects to be placed in industrial areas.
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The Livingston council’s efforts came in response to a widespread and consistent public outcry over two large carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) projects. CCS is a process by which an industrial plant traps its carbon dioxide emissions and pipes them deep below the earth’s surface, permanently storing the gas in rock formations.
One project from chemical giant Air Products involves drilling wells in Lake Maurepas to store carbon dioxide, piped over from its facility in Ascension Parish, about a mile below the lake bed. The other from Oxy Low Carbon Ventures, a subsidiary of Occidental Petroleum, is planned for the Holden area.
A federal court eventually struck down Livingston’s moratorium, ruling that authority over such projects lies with the Louisiana Legislature rather than local governments.
After winning a state house seat last year, Mack is seeking to address the issue with House Bill 516, which is a relatively comprehensive proposal that would have, under its initial version, allowed some local control over CCS projects. It included requiring companies to adopt emergency response plans with public training and community outreach regarding evacuation plans.
Lake Maurepas carbon capture project draws increasing opposition
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Another provision would have prevented the state from issuing any Class VI well permits for a project not in compliance with local zoning ordinances. It also would have required companies to perform additional groundwater testing for contaminants and made the data subject to Louisiana’s Public Records Law.
Mack said his primary reasons for bringing the bill are to try to ensure CCS projects are safe for the community and transparent to the public.
A floor amendment from Rep. Neil Riser, R-Columbia, gutted most of those provisions from the bill.
Mack’s proposal ran into some obstacles early. During an April 4 hearing in the House Natural Resources and Environment Committee, Riser expressed concern that some proposed aspects might be inconsistent with federal regulations and could deter international investment into other pending CCS projects across the state.
“This is such a large investment that we do not want to interrupt it on a global basis raising the money,” he said.
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Riser was mainly concerned about a provision that would require a company to file detailed maps of the project with the parish clerk of court, showing the locations of all the injection wells, among other things. Mack said that section of the bill was not as important to him as others and agreed to accept an amendment from Riser on the House floor Tuesday to address it.
Mack was more protective of a requirement that carbon storage wells have a setback of 2 miles from the corporate limits of any municipality, residences, schools and hospitals. But pro-industry lawmakers on the committee wanted to slash the setback by 95%, amending it to 500 feet. The dispute went to a vote that settled it in favor of the 500-foot setback.
Riser’s floor amendment made another slash at the setback, removing the entire provision as it applied to the corporate limits of a municipality. Its current version keeps it at 500 feet for inhabited dwellings, schools and hospitals.
The amendment also deleted all mention of local zoning ordinances, removing the power Mack sought to give local governments.
Also gone is the provision that would have required groundwater testing data to be subject to public records law. Riser’s amendment replaced it after the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources voiced concern with it. The new version would require testing twice per year but removes all references to the data being a public record, a key part of the bill Rep. Jason Dewitt, R-Boyce, wanted to see implemented.
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“Let’s make sure we have plenty of transparency with all the departments that are gonna be involved in this and that the public has access to the data,” Dewitt said. “And let’s educate [the public] on that and make sure they understand how to get the data.”
The bill next heads to the Senate for consideration.
Louisiana pastor Tony Spell must stay 50 yards from his neighbor’s home unless he’s checking the mail after a protection order was issued against him – as shocking bodycam appears to show him using a homophobic slur to describe his alleged assault victim, just two days after he was arrested.
Spell, 48, is banned from speaking with the neighbor either online and in person, according to the order issued Friday, which has since been reported by The Advocate.
“Mr Spell may walk over and check his mailbox; other than checking his mailbox, he is to be 50 yards away from the protected person’s property,” a note on the order says.
Pastor Tony Spell allegedly assaulted his neighbor’s son after he threatened to kill and rape his wife. WBRZ
Spell, the pastor of Baton Rouge’s Life Tabernacle Church, will appear in court in September after being charged with second degree battery over last month’s assault that unfolded opposite the church.
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He claimed Scott Sherwin’s son had threatened to rape and kill his wife before delivering 35 blows.
But two days after the brawl Scott Sherwin reported Spell for allegedly mowing his lawn at 4 a.m., WBRZ reported.
“He’s doing this to intimidate my victim son,” Sherwin claimed in bodycam video seen by The Post.
“Do you cut your grass at 4 in the morning?” he asked the responding officer.
“You gotta get him to stop man,” the furious dad said.
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Sherwin claimed his family was unable to sleep – alleging Spell was carrying out “psychological warfare.”
An enraged Sherwin then swore at his neighbor, allegedly flipping him off, according to the bodycam.
Tony Spell kneeling and holding a goat. Tony Spell / Facebook
“I was asleep when this started at four in the morning,” Sherwin stressed, aggressively pointing at his phone.
The cop then went over to Spell, who was sitting on his lawnmower, before asking for his name.
“Everybody in the world knows my name,” Spell brazenly replied to the cop.
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Spell, who faces up to eight years in prison if convicted, then labeled Sherwin’s son a “f—-t” and seemed to take pride in the now-viral beatdown.
“He’s just sore because I beat the crap out of his f—-t boy,” he said.
“And he’s next if he comes over here and harasses these boys,” Spell said, speaking while a group of teens gathered nearby.
He has been embroiled in a rivalry with his neighbor. Tony Spell
Spell then started his lawnmower up and told the boys “get to work,” essentially ordering them to clear off.
Spell strongly defended his actions after being released from jail over the assault.
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“Number one, I’m a husband, number two, I’m a father, and number three, I’m a pastor who shepherds his flock,” he said. “I will not allow a man to murder my children when I’m gone,” he told reporters.
He revealed what Sherwin’s son allegedly said, which prompted the beatdown.
“He said, ‘Tony, I’m going to rape your wife, I’m going to rape all your grandchildren, and the next time you go out of town, I’m going to kill them,’” Spell said.
He addressed the altercation to his congregation and compared it to “domestic terrorism.” He also cited a Bible passage from Mark 16:18, WAFB reported.
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“In my name, they shall lay hands on the sick. And they shall recover,” he said.
“So today, I fulfilled the scripture. I laid hands on the sick. I don’t know how much recovery they’re going to have, but I laid hands on the sick.”
Spell has been in a longstanding feud with Sherwin; the pastor filed a lawsuit during the pandemic in 2020 over surveillance cameras that were installed.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Spell was ticketed for holding in-person church services, defying Louisiana’s social distancing restrictions.
Spell claimed the cameras were installed to monitor him.
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In April 2020, Spell was accused of attacking a protester outside his church. Police alleged that Spell backed his church bus in the direction of the protester, who was identified as Trey Bennett, according to news station WAFB-TV.
He was arrested for aggravated assault but never formally charged.
A new study from researchers at LSU’s Pennington Biomedical Research Center, FMOL Health | Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center, and the Metamor Institute found that metabolic and bariatric surgery can be delivered safely and effectively for adolescents and young adults living with severe obesity, leading to significant weight loss and improvements in obesity-related health conditions.
Published in Obesity Surgery, the study examined outcomes from 76 patients ages 10 to 25 who underwent bariatric surgery through a Louisiana-based program at the Metamor Institute between January 2020 and March 2025. Researchers evaluated safety outcomes as well as longer-term health improvements associated with surgical obesity treatment.
The study found that patients achieved an average total body weight loss of 29%-32% maintained over one to five years. Among patients with available follow-up data, 94% experienced remission of type 2 diabetes, 67% showed improvement in hypertension and dyslipidemia and 64% experienced improvement in gastroesophageal reflux disease. Surgical complications remained low, with only 5% of patients experiencing complications within 30 days of surgery.
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Researchers noted that these outcomes were likely supported by a comprehensive, multidisciplinary care model that included experienced surgeons, nutritional guidance, behavioral support and coordinated medical follow-up. The study population represented a broad cross-section of Louisiana patients, with nearly 75% covered by Medicaid, highlighting the importance of ensuring access to effective obesity treatment options across socioeconomic backgrounds.
The findings support current American Academy of Pediatrics recommendations that adolescents age 13 and older with severe obesity and related health risks be evaluated for metabolic and bariatric surgery as part of comprehensive, evidence-based obesity care.
Meta Platforms Inc. has committed to spending an additional $40 billion on its sprawling data center campus in Louisiana, pushing its total expected investment beyond $250 billion for the site as it continues to grow its artificial intelligence computing footprint.
