Montana carbon-storage bill upsets energy industry

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HELENA, Mont. - Coal and natural gas companies told lawmakers Thursday that giving underground carbon-dioxide storage rights to landowners could undermine existing mineral claims.

Legislators looked at a bill that would lay a framework for regulating carbon capture and storage. The bill would give landowners the right to any so-called “pore space” — places to store the gas — beneath their land.

But numerous energy representatives said the measure could interfere with their property rights.

“What if the pore space is in the coal? Does the surface owner own it, or does the coal owner own it?” asked Leo Berry, representing Great Northern Properties, the largest private owner of coal in the state.

Representatives of NorthWestern Energy, the Montana Petroleum Association and PPL Montana also spoke against the bill.

Democratic Sen. Ron Erickson of Missoula, the bill’s sponsor, said Montana should make its own rules for the new technology, rather than wait for federal guidelines.

“We’re a bit late,” Erickson said. “Wyoming is ahead of us. The bill that I am bringing you today is basically modeled after model standards that Wyoming has already used.”

In 2008 Wyoming passed similar legislation that also gives storage rights to “surface” landowners.

The office of Gov. Brian Schweitzer supported the measure, calling it a “good start” in laying guidelines for a complicated new technology.

“With 50 percent of all the electrons in the U.S. coming from coal, like it or not, we’ll be using coal for the foreseeable future,” said Mike Volesky, on behalf of the governor’s office.

That means, said Volesky, a place to store carbon dioxide — a byproduct of burning coal — will be essential.

The proposed law also assigns liability to the carbon-capture companies for 75 years, and gives the Department of Environmental Quality authority to regulate the industry.