Only One Candidate Is Standing Up to Carbon Capture: Why John Fleming Has Become Louisiana’s Anti-CCS Choice
Bill Cassidy helped build the federal CCS machine. Julia Letlow entered the race with Jeff Landry’s backing and a political orbit tied to carbon-capture lobbying. John Fleming is the only major candidate who has publicly opposed both carbon sequestration and eminent-domain abuse in Louisiana. (Reuters)
For Louisiana voters who care about land rights, local control, private property, and the future of this state’s water and rural communities, the 2026 Senate race is not just another contest between Republicans. It is a test of whether Louisiana will keep sending people to Washington who help build the carbon-capture agenda — or finally elect someone willing to stand in front of it. On that question, the contrast is becoming impossible to ignore: John Fleming is the only major candidate in this race who has publicly and directly opposed carbon capture and the eminent-domain abuse that comes with it. (https://www.kalb.com)
Fleming has made that position plain. In a 2025 interview with KALB, he said he opposed carbon capture in Louisiana and identified eminent domain as the most disturbing part of the issue. His warning was not theoretical. He pointed to the way property can be devalued, land access can be disrupted, and ordinary citizens can be pushed aside when politically connected corporations want pipelines and underground storage. In a state where families are increasingly asking whether they will still control what is under, over, and around their land, that matters. (https://www.kalb.com)
Now compare that to Bill Cassidy. Cassidy has not merely tolerated carbon capture. He has helped champion it at the federal level. In 2021, he co-introduced the SCALE Act, a bill designed to expand carbon dioxide transportation and storage infrastructure, and he publicly said there was “no better place in the world than Louisiana to sequester carbon.” In 2023, he announced up to $603 million in federal support for a Louisiana direct air capture hub. Later that year, he announced another $46.8 million for two Louisiana carbon capture and sequestration projects. Cassidy’s office has repeatedly promoted these efforts as wins for the state. That is not a side issue in his record. It is part of his sales pitch. (U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy)
So when voters ask who helped open the federal money spigot for CCS in Louisiana, Cassidy’s own press releases give the answer. He has been one of the state’s loudest federal boosters of the industry, its subsidies, and its infrastructure. For voters who believe CCS has moved too fast, too quietly, and too far beyond what the public ever agreed to, Cassidy is not the firewall. He is one of the builders. (U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy)
Julia Letlow presents a different concern. She entered the Senate race in January 2026 after public encouragement from Donald Trump, and Reuters reported her challenge as a Trump-backed bid against Cassidy. Months earlier, the Associated Press had already reported that Gov. Jeff Landry and Trump had discussed the possibility of Letlow challenging Cassidy. Then, on March 4, 2026, Landry formally endorsed Letlow. That timeline matters because it shows this race did not simply develop on its own. Powerful players were shaping it early. (Reuters)
And there is another layer voters should not ignore. Letlow’s own House website republished the announcement of her engagement to Kevin Ainsworth. Louisiana Board of Ethics lobbying records show Ainsworth, through Jones Walker, represented Blue Sky Infrastructure, LLC, described in the filing as developing CO2 pipeline and underground injection well infrastructure, and EnLink CCS, LLC, described as engaged in carbon capture, transportation, and sequestration. That does not by itself prove Letlow is running on behalf of those interests. But it does place her inside a political and personal orbit that is much closer to the CCS industry than many Louisiana voters may realize. (Representative Julia Letlow)
That brings us to Jeff Landry. Public reporting makes clear that Landry was not neutral in this race. The Associated Press reported in May 2025 that Landry was pushing Trump to weigh a primary challenger to Cassidy and that Julia Letlow was part of those discussions. Louisiana Radio Network later reported it was “fairly common knowledge,” according to political scientist Pearson Cross, that Landry had been working behind the scenes in support of Letlow. When Landry formally endorsed her in March 2026, it confirmed publicly what had already been widely reported privately. (AP News)
John Fleming has openly accused Landry of meddling in the race, and the timing has only fueled that perception. Public coverage shows that while Fleming was making a case against Cassidy’s carbon-capture record, Landry was helping clear political space for Letlow instead. That does not prove every motive behind the governor’s actions, but it does support a broader conclusion: Landry chose not to get behind the one major Republican candidate who had publicly made anti-CCS and anti-eminent-domain resistance part of his message. Instead, he backed Letlow. (https://www.knoe.com)
Why would Landry do that? The cleanest answer is political alignment. Letlow had Trump’s support, establishment viability, and a profile more compatible with the existing power structure. Fleming, by contrast, was drawing a clear line on CCS and eminent domain in a state where those issues increasingly pit landowners and citizens against powerful corporate and political interests. That makes Fleming more disruptive to the system that has allowed carbon capture to spread parish by parish, permit by permit, often faster than the public can meaningfully respond. That is an inference from the public record, but it is a hard one to miss. (Reuters)
Louisiana voters are being told this race is about personalities, endorsements, and insider loyalties. But for families in places like Allen, Vernon, Rapides, Beauregard, Livingston, and other parishes staring down pipelines, injection wells, and property-rights threats, the issue is much more concrete. Who will stand with the people when federal money, state agencies, lobbyists, and corporate lawyers all move in the same direction? Bill Cassidy’s record says one thing. Julia Letlow’s alliances suggest another. John Fleming’s public stance says something very different. (U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy)
That is why, for voters who oppose carbon sequestration under Louisiana communities and oppose the abuse of eminent domain for private gain, John Fleming stands alone in this race. He is not the candidate of the CCS buildout. He is not the candidate surrounded by the same network that has helped normalize it. He is the only major candidate on the record publicly opposing both the carbon-capture agenda and the land-rights abuses tied to it. (https://www.kalb.com)
Louisiana has a choice to make. It can keep rewarding the people who helped finance, facilitate, excuse, and politically protect this industry — or it can elect someone willing to challenge it. If carbon capture, property rights, and eminent-domain abuse are truly defining issues for this election, then the choice is not complicated.
John Fleming is the only real anti-CCS choice in Louisiana’s Senate race.
Call to action:
If you are tired of watching Louisiana’s land, water, and private property rights be traded away for subsidies, speculation, and corporate access, do not sit this race out. Study the record. Share the facts. Ask every candidate where they stand on carbon capture, Class VI wells, CO2 pipelines, and eminent domain. And if you want a senator who stands with the people rather than the machine that built this crisis, start acting like this race matters now — because it does. (https://www.kalb.com)
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