Wyo. governor signs carbon storage bills into law

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CHEYENNE, Wyo. - Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal signed into law two bills that help to define the state’s regulatory structure for the underground storage of carbon dioxide gas.

Freudenthal signed on Thursday one bill that establishes that the right to mine or drill for resources would have precedence over the right to store carbon gas underground.

He also signed another bill that specifies that whoever injects carbon gas underground remains legally responsible for it.

Wyoming, the nation’s largest coal-producing state, is anxious to manage carbon gas, a byproduct of coal-fired power plants. It became the first state in the nation last year to pass a law for underground carbon storage. That law established that the owners of the surface of the land also own the underground storage rights.

Freudenthal is scheduled to act on a third carbon bill Friday. That bill would establish procedures for companies to follow to apply to the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission for orders allowing them to proceed with underground carbon storage.

Under the bill, the commission would issue “unitization” orders to establish how much landowners would be paid for carbon storage. It would also set up a process where owners of a minority of the land surface could be forced to participate in a project.

All three bills were sponsored by the Joint Interim Judiciary Committee.

“It’s very important that Wyoming have a seat at the table on these issues, and that we try to control our own destiny on coal, because we are the leading coal producer in the country,” said Mary Throne, D-Cheyenne, a member of the House Judiciary Committee.

Rep. Tom Lubnau, R-Gillette, has been shepherding the carbon bills. Freudenthal announced that Lubnau, an attorney, has been invited to speak at a symposium at Harvard Law School next month on Wyoming’s efforts to draft laws dealing with carbon storage.

“I’m just tickled you’re going to Harvard,” Freudenthal told Lubnau. “Maybe someday they’ll ask you to speak at the University of Wyoming.”

Lubnau said his wife will travel with him to the one-day symposium next month.

“I’m really excited,” Lubnau said. “It’s the holy grail of practicing law. Like the governor said, there are two things that every lawyer aspires to: to argue a case in front of the United States Supreme Court and to teach a course at Harvard.”

Lubnau said the bills are important because the citizens of Wyoming must not get saddled with long-term liability for carbon storage.

“It’s important for the 550,000 people in the state of Wyoming to make sure that they’re not taking liability,” Lubnau said. “What this bill does is it just shifts liability to those people who are using the power — rather than having the people of Wyoming undertake that liability.”