Canadian energy company Woodland Biofuels has announced plans to build a $1.35 billion wood waste-to-bio methane plant at the Port of South Louisiana, which will be one of the largest renewable natural gas refineries in the world once completed. The facility will be part of a multimodal center and is set to receive financial and workforce support from both the State of Louisiana and local partners. If everything goes as planned, the first phase of gas production could start as early as 2028. In future phases, the plant aims to capture and store hundreds of thousands of tons of carbon dioxide underground, with Louisiana’s favourable geology and existing pipeline infrastructure making it a prime location for carbon storage. The state already has over 20 carbon sequestration projects in various stages of planning or permitting. Woodland Biofuels began in the 2010s as a cellulosic ethanol start-up and had previously built a demonstration plant in Sarnia, Ontario. Their innovative process involves gasifying biomass while capturing carbon dioxide, and they initially aimed to create a wood waste-to-ethanol plant in Ontario with carbon capture capabilities to achieve a "carbon negative" status. With this new Louisiana project, Woodland expects to create 110 well-paying jobs, along with over 250 indirect jobs in the area, plus 500 temporary positions during construction.