SORRENTO - A controversial carbon capture project will be wrapping up operations on Lake Maurepas and across the state after Air Products halted its Louisiana project on Tuesday. 

Air Products, an industrial gas company, said it is not proceeding with its Louisiana Clean Energy Complex project to build a carbon sequestration pipeline running from New Orleans, through southeast Louisiana and ending in Texas City, Texas, citing financial reasons for its fold. 

"Today’s announcement that Air Products will not move forward with the LCEC is based on expected financial returns not meeting stringent return criteria," the company said in a press release. 

The $4.5 billion deal to create a Blue Hydrogen Clean Energy Complex in Ascension Parish was announced in 2021 by former Governor John Bel Edwards and Air Products President Seifi Ghasemi. The company said its plan was to capture carbon dioxide generated from its industrial processes, which would be separated and permanently stored underground. 

Nearly a year after the project was announced, Air Products started seismic research on Lake Maurepas. Residents in Tangipahoa, Livingston and St. John the Baptist parishes pushed back against the project, saying the tests were disturbing the lake's fragile ecosystem and impacting drinking water for people in the area.

The Livingston Parish Council passed a year-long moratorium on any injection wells to slow down the progress. Four months later, a federal judge ruled Air Products could go ahead with work due to having its  paperwork in order before the item was approved. 

After continuing work, Air Products made multiple donations to the community. It launched the Lake Maurepas Community Fund and pledged a $1 million annual commitment to neighboring communities, gave $250,000 to start a Denham Springs center to help children with exceptional needs, donated $100,000 to Killian during its water crisis, committed $280,000 to develop workforce programs at River Parishes Community College, made a $60,000 donation to Livingston Parish Schools and sponsored multiple events and programs. 

In May 2025, the company put its Ascension Parish plant on hold. Air Products CEO Eduardo Menezes said the project was at least two years behind schedule and would not begin production until 2028 at the earliest. 

In a statement, Air Products said it was "carefully controlling capital spending on this project to better align with our expected permitting and onstream timelines."

Residents in the area did not let go of their concerns about carbon capture projects in their communities, and continued to attend and speak out against carbon capture projects at public meetings. 

"Nobody wants it anywhere near here," Livingston Parish resident Carla DeYoung told WBRZ in 2025.