BATON ROUGE — Nonprofit organization Save My Louisiana filed suit against the state over carbon capture laws it says are unconstitutional, alleging they give private companies the power to take private property from residents.

The lawsuit targets a series of laws passed by the Louisiana legislature in 2020. It points to RS 30:1108, which reads:

"Any storage operator is hereby authorized, after obtaining any permit and any certificate of public convenience and necessity from the commissioner required by this Chapter, to exercise the power of eminent domain and expropriate needed property to acquire surface and subsurface rights and property interests necessary..."

Save My Louisiana accuses these carbon capture laws of violating the Louisiana Constitution, specifically, residents' right to property. The lawsuit says it grants companies the right to seize private property to use as underground carbon dioxide storage.

In a news release, the nonprofit accused state legislators of passing the carbon capture laws without reading or understanding them. 

"Although Legislators seek full forgiveness for their negligence, they have only offered anemic half-measures to correct their whole measure offense," the release says. It also accuses legislators of downplaying or denying the existence of eminent domain, despite the language in the laws. 

The suit seeks to have the carbon capture laws removed and prevent Department of Conservation and Energy Secretary Justin Davidson and Gov. Jeff Landry from enforcing them.