Louisiana’s industrial corridor along the Mississippi River is one of the most concentrated clusters of heavy industrial CO2 emissions in the United States. This 100-mile corridor has over 55 industrial manufacturing plants that emit more than 60 million metric tons of CO2 annually, or approximately 8% of total US CO2 emissions from heavy industry. Many large chemical, steel, and fertilizer producers have selected this corridor for new greenfield industrial facilities because they require access to reliable, cost-effective CO2 storage infrastructure, and more are expected to be announced.
Near the Geismar-Donaldsonville area, Blue Sky Infrastructure has secured underground CO2 injection and storage rights underlying over 30,000 surface acres with geology capable of storing at least 14 million metric tons of CO2 annually and approximately 400 million metric tons of CO2 in aggregate. The injection and storage rights provide Blue Sky Infrastructure with access to world-class underground CO2 sequestration reservoirs, with 2,000-3,000 vertical feet of usable injection formations. The injection zones are saline-saturated, highly porous and permeable sandstone packages 5,000 to 11,000 feet beneath the surface. Multiple redundant sealing layers hundreds of feet thick comprised of impermeable shales, mudstones, and marls above and below the injection reservoirs ensure injected CO2 remains permanently confined in the storage zones.
Blue Sky Infrastructure’s storage locations were strategically selected to provide for the lowest cost CO2 transportation and sequestration solution in the region and the least complex permitting and execution pathway.
Our selection criteria included proximity to industrial CO2 sources, avoiding population centers, minimal subsurface complexity (e.g., faulting), avoiding existing artificial penetrations (e.g., existing oil and gas wells), minimal sensitive environmental resource impacts (including protected wetlands), and easy surface and utility access. In addition, we designed the pipeline route with no or minimal impacts to communities and sensitive environmental resources and planned for feasible crossings of jurisdictional infrastructure and congested utility corridors.
Blue Sky Infrastructure’s storage locations were strategically selected to provide for the lowest cost CO2 transportation and sequestration solution in the region and the least complex permitting and execution pathway.
Our selection criteria included proximity to industrial CO2 sources, avoiding population centers, minimal subsurface complexity (e.g., faulting and lithological heterogeneity), avoiding existing artificial penetrations (e.g. existing oil and gas wells), minimal sensitive environmental resource impacts (including protected wetlands), and easy surface and utility access. In addition, we designed the pipeline route with no or minimal impacts to communities and sensitive environmental resources and planned for feasible crossings of jurisdictional infrastructure and congested utility corridors.
Blue Sky Infrastructure commenced the permitting process for multiple EPA Class VI CO2 injection wells and is preparing for key pipeline system permits.
Blue Sky Infrastructure’s River Parish Sequestration Project is expected to be ready to begin transportation and sequestration in 2026.
RPS Project Provides Significant Benefits
Carbon capture and underground storage of CO2 (CCS) has meaningful economic benefits for America, the State of Louisiana, and particularly for the Mississippi River industrial corridor (Louisiana Industrial Corridor). Louisiana Economic Development (LED) reports $23 billion of carbon capture related capital investments have been announced to date in Louisiana with 4,500 projected new jobs and greater tax revenues. The RPS Project alone represents a $566 million capital investment at full buildout, according to an Economic Impact Report prepared LED.
The RPS Project provides a cost-effective CO2 transportation and storage solution for existing and new-build Louisiana Industrial Corridor facilities that require CO2 storage. There are numerous greenfield industrial development opportunities under consideration in the Louisiana Industrial Corridor (petrochemical, steel, fertilizer) that require CCS and, if sanctioned, advance many of the Louisiana’s and the nation’s energy and economic goals, including:
- Facilitating major new investments in critical export-oriented manufacturing facilities
- Creating new, steady-state demand for US energy feedstocks (natural gas, natural gas liquids, coal, and biomass)
- Protecting existing hydrocarbon-dependent industrial facilities against future regulation and augmenting their profitability
Our storage site will competitively advantage existing and future facility operators in the Louisiana Industrial Corridor vis-à-vis other industrial hubs in North America and across the world.
Key Project Milestones
Commercial and Class VI Permitting
River Parish Sequestration (RPS) entered into its first commercial contract to provide long-term CO2 transportation and sequestration service in February 2025.
In December 2025, the Louisiana Department of Conservation and Energy (C&E) issued RPS a draft Class VI permit for its first injection well, which will be used to serve its initial customer. RPS is the second project in Louisiana and the first in the Mississippi River corridor to receive a draft Class VI permit and expects to be the first project in Louisiana to geologically sequester CO2 starting in 2027.
RPS will begin to construct the first injection well after C&E issues a final authorization to construct, which RPS expects to occur during the first half of 2026.
In addition to the first well, RPS has filed Class VI permit applications covering another six injection wells. Class VI permitting for these additional wells will be finalized as additional CO2 sequestration demand arises.
Site Characterization
Palo Alto Stratigraphic Test Well
In Q2 2023, we successfully drilled the Palo Alto stratigraphic test well in Ascension Parish, the first test well in Louisiana’s River Parishes. We recovered 640 feet of whole core, sampled formation fluids, and ran a full suite of wireline logs. Analysis of the test well data indicates the geology underlying our storage site acreage is very well suited for large-scale CO2 sequestration.
Smoke Bend Seismic Survey
In Q2 2023, we conducted the Smoke Bend seismic survey to supplement existing 3D and 2D seismic coverage. With the Smoke Bend survey, Blue Sky has seismic survey coverage for its first three injection well locations.
Aerial Magnetic Drone Survey
In Q3 2025, conducted an aerial magnetic drone survey over our first three injection well areas of review. The drone survey did not identify any undocumented artificial penetrations.
Water Well Sampling
In Q3 2025, conducted baseline sampling of existing water wells in the vicinity of the first injection well.
Pipeline System
Survey and Geotechnical Analysis
In Q1-Q2 2023, we surveyed the initial phase of the RPS Project’s pipeline route and storage sites, including geotechnical borings for a pipeline crossing of the Mississippi River to connect CO2 sources in Geismar to our storage site (purple line on map).
Joint Permit Application
In Q2 2023, we submitted a Joint Permit Application to the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers and C&E, Office of Coastal Management.
In Q3 2024, we received the permit for the pipeline connecting the storage site to Geismar (purple line on map).
Pipeline FEED
In 2025, completed front-end engineering and design (FEED) of the pipeline connecting the storage site to Geismar (purple line on map).
DOE CarbonSAFE Grant
In September 2024, the U.S. Department of Energy awarded the River Parish Sequestration Project with $32.2 million in grant funding under the Carbon Storage Assurance Facility Enterprise (CarbonSAFE) Program. The grant funding has supported site characterization activities to help advance and de-risk project development and enable commercialization.
Community Benefits Plan & Community Engagement
RPS has started to develop a comprehensive Community Benefits Plan to provide direct benefits to the communities where the project is located. Components of the Community Benefits Plan include:
- Establishing a Community Benefits Fund to pay for projects and programs that directly benefit local communities that is funded with a portion of the RPS Project’s revenue.
- Working with River Parishes Community College to provide curriculum support and guest lecture opportunities to help students better prepare for jobs in energy transition fields.
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Sponsoring community engagement events and establishing a Community Advisory Panel (CAP) to help guide the Project and interactions with the public