Texas Primacy Exposed Louisiana’s Weak Spot
How Dustin Davidson’s shaky leadership slowed CCS—and why citizens must keep the pressure on
Louisiana residents have been told for years that carbon capture and storage (CCS) is inevitable.
That it’s “coming no matter what.”
That Louisiana will “lead the nation.”
That resistance is pointless.
But Texas just changed the equation.
With Texas primacy, companies now have a faster, state-controlled pathway to permit CO₂ injection wells—and that shift has exposed something Louisiana officials didn’t want the public focusing on:
Louisiana’s CCS rollout is weaker than they claimed.
And the weakness has a name.
Dustin Davidson.
Louisiana issued a Class VI permit — but the momentum didn’t follow
Yes, Louisiana issued a Class VI permit in Cameron Parish. That fact matters, and it’s important to be accurate.
But what matters even more is what happened next:
Louisiana did not surge forward.
Louisiana did not prove stability.
Louisiana did not inspire public trust.
Instead, Louisiana’s CCS program hit turbulence—and the state hit the brakes.
October proved what citizens already suspected
Texas Primacy Exposed: Understanding Its Impact on Louisiana’s CCS Strategy
In October 2025, Governor Jeff Landry was forced to slow the review of new Class VI applications.
The state’s official reasoning was procedural.
But Louisiana citizens don’t need political spin to understand what it meant in real life:
The department was not prepared to manage the scale of what was being pushed onto this state.
And that kind of breakdown doesn’t happen under strong leadership.
It happens when:
- management is overwhelmed
- decision-making is inconsistent
- the process is unstable
- and the people in charge are not equipped to lead it
That is exactly the window where citizens should recognize a truth the administration doesn’t want acknowledged:
The CCS machine is not unstoppable.
The CCS machine can stall.
The CCS machine can be beaten back.
Tyler Gray is gone — and the cracks widened
For better or worse, Tyler Gray understood how to move projects through the state system.
After he left, Louisiana didn’t become clearer.
It became clumsier.
And under Dustin Davidson’s leadership, CCS didn’t look like a controlled, competent program.
It looked like a state bureaucracy scrambling to keep up with an industry that moves fast, lawyers up, and demands certainty.
That weakness became a gift to Louisiana citizens.
Because the slower and shakier the state becomes, the harder it is for anyone to quietly force this on communities while pretending it’s “routine permitting.”
Texas is now the pressure valve Louisiana needed
With primacy, Texas can permit faster and larger-scale storage without Louisiana’s political chaos.
That matters because Louisiana has been treated like the nation’s default dumping ground:
Capture carbon elsewhere → ship it into Louisiana → inject it under our communities.
But now, companies have another option.
And that creates a question Louisiana officials don’t want asked out loud:
If CCS is so “safe” and “necessary,” why does Louisiana need to be pushed so hard to accept it?
If Texas can handle it faster…
Why should Louisiana be the state that gets cornered into it?
Here’s the truth: 45Q money is still coming
The federal subsidy machine hasn’t stopped.
The tax credit dollars are still there.
The investors are still watching.
The developers still want injection capacity.
So no—this fight is not over.
But here’s the hopeful shift:
Texas primacy means Louisiana is no longer the only “easy target.”
That can take pressure off Louisiana—if citizens keep pushing.
Because the goal for Louisiana communities isn’t to “help CCS succeed.”
The goal is to protect:
- property rights
- local control
- clean water
- public transparency
And if the federal government wants to spend billions on CCS tax credits?
Then let them spend it in a state that is better equipped to manage it—without forcing Louisiana parishes to carry the risk.
Dustin Davidson’s weakness is not a reason to relax — it’s a reason to fight harder
Louisiana citizens have a choice right now:
- Keep pushing back while the state’s CCS leadership is unstable
- Or go quiet and let industry regain momentum once the administration reorganizes
This is not the time to slow down.
This is the time to:
- show up at meetings
- demand answers in public
- document everything
- support legal action
- pressure legislators relentlessly
Because October proved what the people already knew:
They don’t have full control of this rollout.
And that means we still have power.
The bottom line
Texas didn’t just get primacy.
Texas gave Louisiana citizens proof that CCS is not inevitable, and Louisiana isn’t the only option.
And if Louisiana’s CCS program collapses under weak leadership and public pressure?
That isn’t failure.
That’s protection.
