Tomorrow, Southeastern Louisiana University will begin providing independent scientific monitoring of the Lake Maurepas ecosystem. The goal is to see where the lake stands before Air Products begins its project to inject carbon emissions into wells deep beneath the lake.
Dan McCarthy is the dean of Southeastern’s College of Science and Technology.
“What were doing rite now is just fairly study to understand the baseline where the lake stands right now so this way when you know where it stand, you can recognize changes,” said McCarthy.
McCarthy says they will monitor the health of fish, check the condition of the wetlands, and take water samples. He says in January, they will begin using sophisticated technology to continually upload data to the school’s computers.
“Were hoping that these very sophisticated booies that can go out to the lake and do constant continual sampling then like every 15 minutes they’ll upload to the web what’s going on,” said McCarthy.
McCarthy says that information will be public record, so anyone will be able to see it. Air Products is seeking permission to build a $4.5 billion “blue hydrogen” plant in Ascension Parish. Instead of sending the greenhouse gases from the plant into the air, the company proposes to inject C02 into wells beneath Lake Maurepas. The company has given Southeastern a grant to cover the costs of the monitoring.
“Air products need that, they need independent monitoring because that’s going to be required for permitting,” said McCarthy.
Air Products has said if it gets the permits, the earliest it would begin pumping C02 beneath the lake would be 2026.
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