Governor’s Office Records Show the Push Behind CapturePoint’s Vernon Parish Carbon Storage Project

Emails produced by the Governor’s Office show CapturePoint representatives discussing a $3.5 million annual Vernon Parish commitment, an expanded community-outreach strategy, meetings with state officials and a requested roadmap toward a Class VI permit.

337.NEWS obtained records from the Louisiana Governor’s Office concerning carbon capture, sequestration, direct air capture and related projects in Southwest and Central Louisiana.

Buried in that production is a paper trail surrounding CapturePoint Solutions’ Central Louisiana Regional Carbon Storage Hub, or CENLA Hub, proposed across Vernon and Rapides parishes.

The records do not establish wrongdoing.

They do, however, provide a look behind the public debate: what CapturePoint and its representatives were telling state officials, how the company planned to build local support, what it was offering Vernon Parish, and how closely billions of dollars in proposed industrial development were being tied to advancement of its Class VI carbon-storage permit.

A $3.5 million annual commitment

On July 28, 2025, an attorney representing CapturePoint emailed members of state government ahead of a meeting with company CEO Greg Harper.

The email summarized five points CapturePoint planned to make.

One was what the representative called an “unprecedented commitment to Community Investment.”

According to the email, CapturePoint would contribute $3.5 million annually to Vernon Parish, with a commitment to pay the higher amount if a future state carbon-injection fee would produce more.

The same email told state officials that CapturePoint’s permit would anchor $14 billion in industrial investment, $1.8 billion in CO₂ infrastructure and more than 500 jobs across Louisiana.

A later parish record used a different figure. Vernon Parish Resolution No. 39 of 2025, adopted September 15, stated that CapturePoint had agreed to pay approximately $9 million per year through its Community Investment Fund and authorized a memorandum of understanding. The July correspondence documents the earlier proposal. The resolution alone does not establish the detailed payment conditions or that payments have begun.

The final point was direct: CapturePoint wanted a “roadmap and timeline” toward issuance of its Class VI permit.

Source: Response Part 5, page 32

Building support in Vernon Parish

The July 28 email also said CapturePoint had accelerated outreach to Vernon Parish leaders during the preceding month and characterized local support as growing.

That effort appears more explicitly in another email sent July 7.

In it, CapturePoint’s representative described the company as undertaking a “more strategic and aggressive approach” to engaging the local community.

The plan included listening to community leaders, addressing what the company considered misinformation, increasing on-the-ground activity and developing a stronger social-media presence.

The stated goal was to quickly produce broader understanding and support for the project.

That same correspondence described a proposed Vernon Parish Community Investment Fund capable of contributing up to $3.5 million annually toward local schools, infrastructure and public safety.

At the time, CapturePoint was also seeking meetings with senior Louisiana officials to discuss community engagement, those proposed investments and the remaining steps toward permitting.

Source: Response Part 5, pages 34–35

The support letters

The Governor’s Office production also contains a series of letters urging state officials to advance CapturePoint’s permit.

Some came from companies whose proposed projects depended on access to carbon-storage infrastructure.

Energy Transfer told Governor Jeff Landry that it had executed both a Letter of Intent and a CO₂ Offtake Agreement with CapturePoint involving carbon captured from Haynesville natural-gas facilities.

CO280 told the Governor that its first Louisiana project involved the Packaging Corporation of America mill in DeRidder and that reaching final investment decisions for full-scale carbon-capture facilities depended on having a sequestration partner ready.

Heimdal described a proposed Vernon Parish direct-air-capture facility called Project Feather. In its July 2025 letter, the company projected a $115 million investment, 500 to 600 construction jobs, 50 to 70 permanent jobs and capture of approximately 100,000 tons of CO₂ annually.

Those are company representations contained in the records, not independent findings by 337.NEWS.

Sources: Response Part 4, CO280 letter, pages 81–82; Heimdal letter, pages 89–90; Energy Transfer letter, page 94.

One local letter deserves additional context

One of the Vernon Parish support letters makes another disclosure.

The writer described herself as a lifelong Vernon Parish resident and argued that opposition from a relatively small portion of the parish was preventing economic development.

She also disclosed in the same letter that she had been contracted by CapturePoint to assist with communication.

She stated that the letter was not being written in that role and instead represented her personal position as a resident.

That distinction matters.

It does not make the letter illegitimate, and it does not establish that anything improper occurred.

But when public officials are receiving apparently grassroots support for a controversial project, financial or professional relationships between the writer and the project developer are relevant context for anyone reading that correspondence later.

Source: Response Part 4, pages 91–92

The 2025 permitting timeline

CapturePoint has filed separate Class VI applications associated with its CENLA project in Vernon and Rapides parishes.

Louisiana Department of Energy and Natural Resources records identify six proposed wells under the Vernon application and six under the Rapides application.

By September 2025, state regulators had narrowed the projects receiving concentrated Class VI review.

CapturePoint’s CCS 2 – Wilcox 2 project in Vernon Parish made that priority list.

The separate Rapides Parish CapturePoint application did not appear among the applications identified for concentrated review in that September guidance.

A month later, Governor Landry issued Executive Order JML 25-119, suspending review of newly submitted Class VI applications while directing the state to concentrate resources on a smaller group of previously filed projects and imposing additional requirements before permits could be issued.

The September review priorities are documented in Department Guidance No. B-2025-01 (Revision 1). The October action is documented in Executive Order JML 25-119. This timeline describes those 2025 actions, rather than a determination of current permit status.

Why publish the correspondence

Carbon-storage debates tend to divide quickly into two camps.

One side talks about jobs, investment and preserving Louisiana's industrial base.

The other talks about pipelines, property rights, groundwater, long-term liability and how much control landowners and local governments should retain over what happens beneath their communities.

The Governor’s Office production shows another part of the process that is harder to see from a public meeting.

Companies seek meetings.

Consultants develop outreach strategies.

Businesses whose investments depend on a permit send support letters.

Residents contact state officials.

Community-benefit packages are discussed.

And state regulators decide which projects receive limited permitting resources first.

None of those things is inherently improper.

But they are part of the process.

And when that process involves billions of dollars in proposed investment and the permanent underground storage of industrial CO₂ beneath Louisiana property, the correspondence surrounding it belongs in the public conversation.

Disclosure: 337.NEWS is publishing these records as source material. Statements made by CapturePoint, its representatives, project partners, supporters or opponents in the records are attributed to those parties and should not be interpreted as independent findings by 337.NEWS. The production is also not necessarily a complete record of every communication concerning the project.

Related reporting

Project Minerva in Cameron Parish raises a different set of questions involving subsurface property rights, pore-space ownership and the geographic reach of underground carbon storage.

https://337.news/project-minerva-cameron-parish-pore-space-property-rights/

About the Author

Dalton Barron is an independent researcher, writer, and licensed Louisiana real estate agent. His work at 337.news focuses on public records, property rights, land ownership, economic development, government accountability, and issues affecting Louisiana communities.

Drawing on a background in law enforcement, investigations, security, and logistics, Dalton approaches reporting with an emphasis on documentation, transparency, and independent analysis. Whenever practical, underlying records and supporting evidence are made publicly accessible for readers to examine themselves.

Disclosure & Disclaimer

Dalton Barron is a licensed Louisiana real estate agent affiliated with NextHome Bayou Pines, Jeremy Jones, Broker/Owner. Licensed by the Louisiana Real Estate Commission (LREC). Main office: DeRidder, Louisiana. Each office is independently owned and operated.

337.news is an independent publication. Reporting and opinions are the author's own and do not represent his brokerage. Published material is intended for informational purposes and does not constitute legal, financial, or professional advice. References to individuals, businesses, or organizations in public records do not, by themselves, imply wrongdoing. Factual corrections are documented when warranted.

Read the records

The Governor’s Office production discussed in this report has been preserved in the 337.NEWS Louisiana Public Records Archive.

Governor’s Office — Carbon Capture Records

The archive currently contains two production files totaling 273 pages:

• Response Part 4 — 158 pages
• Response Part 5 — 115 pages

The files are preserved as received so readers can review the correspondence directly rather than relying solely on excerpts or summaries.

Source references

• Vernon Parish Resolution No. 39 of 2025, adopted September 15
• Source: Response Part 5, page 32
• Source: Response Part 5, pages 34–35
• CO280 letter, pages 81–82
• Heimdal letter, pages 89–90
• Energy Transfer letter, page 94
• Source: Response Part 4, pages 91–92
• Department Guidance No. B-2025-01 (Revision 1)
• Executive Order JML 25-119