NOLA.COM: Why Gray Stream believes carbon capture is vital to Louisiana's growth

When Gov. Jeff Landry tapped W. Gray Stream last year to chair the newly created Louisiana Economic Development Partnership, the 45-year-old Lake Charles businessman was skeptical.

In his years as president of the Stream Cos. and founder of Gulf Coast Sequestration, Stream has seen plenty of boards and commissions attempt, unsuccessfully, to tackle Louisiana's many challenges. He knew that if the 11-member board of business leaders wanted to make a difference in its role providing advice to the state's economic development team, it needed to break the mold. 

After six months at the group's helm, Stream is upbeat about the board's progress. In March, it signed off on a new economic development strategythat aims to transform Louisiana into the most innovative economy in the South. Its goal is for Louisiana to have the highest wage growth in the region and positive net migration in all parts of the state.

Stream didn’t grow up in Louisiana, but his family has deep roots in the state, where the family business, Stream Cos. is among the largest landowners.

In 2018, he founded Gulf Coast Sequestration to develop a carbon capture and sequestration hub in Calcasieu Parish. In this week’s Talking Business, Stream discusses why carbon capture technology is necessary for Louisiana to grow, despite opposition from a small group of Republican lawmakers in the Legislature, and his role as chair of the new private sector board. 

Comments have been edited for length and clarity.

Tell us about Stream Cos.

The Stream Cos. is a humble family business. It started out with land surveying, which turned into land acquisition around agriculture, cattle, timber and so forth. That turned into properties that had oil and gas production. And then it transitioned into other businesses as well: real estate development, hotels and other private businesses. We sometimes will try to help start things and grow them and exit. Others, like our wetlands company — which has restored tens of thousands of acres of coastal wetlands and marshes — we hold onto. We are still very much, no pun intended, rooted in the land. We’re very connected to the dirt here in the state. 

How much land do y’all have in your portfolio?

We don’t tend to talk about specific acreage, but it’s a low six-figure acreage amount. So it’s a meaningful holding of primarily agriculture, timber and coastal properties. 

What prompted you to create Gulf Coast Sequestration in 2018?

There is a very large amount of industrial activity that has a lot of emissions that need to be decarbonized. There were also industries that were looking to invest in Louisiana, but if they didn’t have solutions to decarbonize their materials, they couldn’t get their financing. We wanted to construct a solution so the industry that wanted to locate here didn’t have the uncertainty of waiting. 

Meta, for instance, said they wanted low carbon power. We have all this gas-fired power, which is low cost. Put carbon capture and sequestration on it, and it's low carbon. That's what we need. Anybody with logic sees that that's if you're trying to grow the economy, that this is a very elegant solution.

President Donald Trump has pushed for a return to traditional fossil fuels but thus far hasn’t announced cuts to federal tax credits that are key to financing carbon capture and sequestration projects. Where do Louisiana’s federal lawmakers stand on CCS? Who are your biggest advocates?

I think there’s been a positive level of support, but I don’t think our delegation is monolithic. You have some who think that anything built on the basis of lowering greenhouse gas emissions is a misguided use of resources. You have some who think it’s a good thing and industry has to have solutions and this is the way to do it. I’ve been pleased with the support. I think the leaders of our delegation understand it well. On the Senate side, Sen. (Bill) Cassidy has been so deeply involved in energy policy, and trying to ensure that we’re positioning ourselves in Louisiana for new energy technologies and being proactive about it. 

You served as chair of Gov. Jeff Landry’s transition committee on Energy, Chemical and Maritime Industry policy, and also advised Gov. John Bel Edwards’ Climate Initiatives Task Force. How do you think Louisiana should approach the energy transition?

I’m personally an all-of-the-above guy. I think that’s the only practical, pragmatic way to be. The energy transition is not a political thing. Things are always evolving technologically. The demand, particularly for electricity, is being driven up a steep curve. Typically, that’s being addressed with a hydrocarbon-based resource and that’s going to continue to be the case. At the same, there are all these other solutions that are also being developed. You want to be on the side of innovation. That’s where growth is going to be. 

There’s a push among some lawmakers to limit CCS in Louisiana in the upcoming legislative session. One proposal would give voters the opportunity to decide whether they want CCS in their parish. What do you make of the opposition brewing against CCS?

The basis for those bills are basically some folks that have stoked up some local voices that don’t really understand, but they’re loud and they’re worked up and, you know, there may not even be that many of them, but they can scare enough people to get in a room and at a local level try to shut things down that are good for the state. I think that sometimes legislators feel that they have to do things in response to some folks that, whether they’re informed properly or not, are effective at creating anxiety. 

How do you view your role on the Louisiana Economic Development Partnership? What do you think about LED’s progress so far?

We’re a resource and we’re a means for feedback and accountability. Secretary (Susan) Bourgeois is awesome. I have an enormous amount of respect for her and the culture that she’s building. The governor made a great pick there. She and the staff have a huge, emotionally healthy appetite for critical feedback, because they don’t think we’re doing everything right. That’s the point. If you think you’re already a rock star and everything’s great, then why try to improve? There’s an ambition to do things better. You see a group of people there that are hungry to be productive and get results for the citizens of the state.