Residents speak up about proposed carbon capture and sequestration facility in Beauregard

Residents speak up about proposed carbon capture and sequestration facility in Beauregard

Published 5:04 pm Tuesday, March 10, 2026

Members of the Ragley community were invited last week by the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality to comment on a proposed air operating permit for Louisiana Energy Gateway’s Gillis Treating/CCS Facility — a proposed natural gas treating and dehydrating facility in Beauregard Parish.

The Louisiana Energy Gateway is a 176-mile, high-pressure pipeline project by Williams Companies designed to transport natural gas from the Haynesville Shale to Gulf Coast LNG terminals.

Williams Companies said the proposed facility in Beauregard would be a conventional amine plant designed to remove CO2 from natural gas to meet pipeline quality standards and increase energy content with the ability to accommodate future carbon capture if market conditions are supported. If approved, the plant — located 4.9 miles southeast or Ragley — would process up to 1.1 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas with around-the-clock onsite staffing.

John Suchar, vice president of permitting and land with Williams Companies, said the purpose of the meeting was to provide clarity and transparency around the permit application and give the community the opportunity to comment.

Held at the South Beauregard Recreation District 2 Community Center, residents were given the opportunity to present oral statements, views, recommendations, opinions and information on the proposed permit rather attend a question-and-answer session.

During the community meeting, multiple residents spoke against the facility; none spoke publicly in favor of it.

Kyler Campbell and his family — who would live within a quarter of a mile of the proposed facility — moved to the area due to it being a quiet residential spot with no plant or proposed industrial facilities nearby.

“Your job as the LDEQ is to represent the people behind me in these neighborhoods, not the financial interest of Williams and industry,” Campbell said. “We would have to live with the emissions, we have to live with the risks, we will live with the noise and the loss of potential property value. Most importantly, our children will have to grow up and live next to this facility. As a parent, that is not something I can accept without real transparency and clear answers about the safety of this community.”

The proposed facility would consist of one natural gas-fired combustion turbine, one natural gas emergency generator, one diesel emergency generator, six hot oil heater, four regen heaters, three glycol dehydration combustors, one CO2 dehydration unit vent, one component fugitives and other ancillary activities. According to the permit application, the proposed updates would make the facility a Title V facility for criteria pollutants and a major source of toxic air pollutants under the Louisiana Administrative Code. The facility would remain an area source of hazardous air pollutants under the federal program.

The public notice states the proposed facility site would be located on a nearly 70-acre parcel and would create about 15 direct permanent jobs during operations. During the meeting, however, Suchar said the facility would bring 10 permanent full-time jobs.

Beauregard Parish Police Jury Vice President O.B. Morgan, who represents District 4A where the proposed facility would be located, said he has not received any calls from constituents in support of the project.

“The bottom line is out of all the people in District 4A, I haven’t had one person call me and say they want that facility,” Morgan said, “but I have had several call me that don’t want the facility so that’s why I’m here today. I’m here to support my folks in the district.”

Suchar said, if approved, the plan would be in service in the third quarter of 2027. He said the facility aims to meet the future demand of the region while minimizing environmental impacts.

The permit application can be viewed at the LDEQ permits public notice webpage at www.deq.louisiana.gov/public-notices and general information related to the public participation in permitting activities can be viewed at www.deq.louisiana.gov/page/the-public-participation-group. All public comments submitted to LDEQ about the project should specify AI Number 236684, Permit Number 0320-00217-V0 and Activity Number PER20250001.