24 March 2025 :
March 21, 2025 - Louisiana. Chemical company “Airgas” considers action against Louisiana over potential misuse of nitrogen in execution
The Louisiana Department of Public Safety & Corrections may have used nitrogen from a Pennsylvania company in the March 18 execution of Jessie Hoffman, despite the fact that the company prohibits the use of its products for the purpose of killing people.
Under a public records law passed last year, the department does not reveal information which could identify people or companies involved in executions. The department did not respond to a request for information about its procurement process.
However, photographs of the equipment used in Hoffman’s execution, which was done with the use of nitrogen gas, appear to show cylinders of compressed gas produced by Airgas may have been used.
Airgas has contracted with the state of Louisiana for over 25 years, selling products including nitrogen gas for a variety of industrial purposes, criminal analysis and other applications. The company, though, has been outspoken in its position against the use of its products for executions since 2019, four years after Oklahoma became the first state to legalize executions by nitrogen gas and as other Southern states began to follow suit.
“Providing nitrogen for execution purposes is inconsistent with our company values,” Airgas spokesperson Kim Menard told Gambit. “Airgas has not and will not supply nitrogen or other inert gases to induce hypoxia for the purpose of human execution.”
“Airgas is not collaborating with the state of Louisiana or any other state,” Menard wrote in a statement to Gambit, adding, “If Airgas becomes aware that the state plans to use or used products purchased from Airgas as part of its execution procedures, then Airgas will promptly address the failure to respect our position on this important topic directly with the state.”
Photographs and videos reviewed by Gambit that were included in Hoffman’s death penalty appeal show Airgas tanks and other Airgas products inside the chamber where Hoffman was eventually executed, as first reported by The Guardian.
For instance, one video shows tanks in the execution chamber depicting the company’s website in small print — partially obscured by heavy duty tape — in addition to a paper bag filled with Airgas labels and valves, along with other items of unknown origin.
What type of gas was in the containers is not clear. Some of the tanks were painted green — which is often used to designate a cylinder contains oxygen — with a black cap, which can be used to indicate the tank is mixed with nitrogen.
