The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) oversees the Emissions Reduction Credit Trading Program for all parishes in the State. As of January 2020, all parishes in the State of Louisiana are designated as attainment for criteria pollutants. In March 2017, the area of Baton Rouge was designated as an area of attainment for the 2015 standard for ozone under the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) by the EPA. Regardless of the federal non-attainment status, the state requirements for offsets or emission reduction credits (ERCs) remain for specific parishes to prevent the attainment status loss.
State offsets rules require new facilities in Ascension, East Baton Rouge, Iberville, and West Baton Rouge parishes with a potential to emit (PTE) of over 50 tons of NOx and VOC emissions to obtain ERCs, and major modifications with a PTE of over 40 tons are also required to obtain ERCs.
The Louisiana ERC market has experienced a considerable decrease in supply since 2008. ERCs created in Louisiana all have their unique expiration dates, and prices can vary significantly based on these dates.