A company’s proposal to store carbon dioxide under timber land in southern Alabama has drawn the opposition of farmers, local officials, and state lawmakers.

Reliant Carbon Capture and Storage, a Colorado-based company, is behind the Pine Hills Sequestration Hub, a proposal to store carbon dioxide (CO2) underground beneath 104,000 acres used for timber harvest. The project would be near Conecuh National Forest, a protected area known for its biodiversity.

Such projects are meant to permanently store CO2 from industry underground to keep it out of the atmosphere and stop it from warming the climate. CO2 storage projects can qualify for massive federal tax breaks expanded under former President Joe Biden, though the technology has not been proven cost-effective at large scale.

State Sen. Josh Carnley and state Rep. Matthew Hammett, both Republicans, told the Andalusia Star-News that they oppose the project, with Hammett filing a bill that would amend the state’s constitution to ban such CO2 disposal wells in Covington County.

The two joined the chorus of residents opposed to the project, including farmers worried about CO2 leaks and groundwater contamination. Commissioners of neighboring Walton County, Florida, also recently agreed to write a letter to Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey opposing a CO2 pipeline to the site, according to the Center Square.