Indiana Farm Bureau Fighting for Landowners’ Subsurface Pore Space Rights…Again

It’s still relatively early in the Indiana legislative session, but Indiana Farm Bureau is already calling on its grass roots membership to help stop a bill that could impact your property rights.
Jeff Cummins, associate director of policy engagement for INFB, says the issue of carbon sequestration in your subsurface pore space that was defeated last year is back with some different wrinkles. In an interview from last year, Cummins explained that Wabash Valley Resources in West Terre Haute wants to manufacture hydrogen and ammonia, “capture their CO2, pipe the CO2 to injection wells over in Vigo and Vermilion counties, and then inject that CO2 3,000 to 4,000 feet into the subsurface pore space.”
Fast forward to this year, Cummins explains that they’re not opposed to what Wabash Valley Resources wants to do in terms of hydrogen and ammonia production; “however, we are opposed to this bill and the separate standard under which it would allow them to operate. All other entities in the state must operate under the framework that we supported last year, House Enrolled Act 1209, which requires public notice, a comment period, consent of the landowners, good faith negotiations for the lease or sale of pore space, that subsurface pore space, where these companies want to store carbon dioxide.”
Cummins says Senate Bill 451, which will be heard Monday morning by the Senate Environmental Affairs Committee, would give a special privilege for Wabash Valley Resources.
“They would not have to get the consent of the landowners to inject CO2 under their property. They wouldn’t have to successfully execute a contract with those landowners to operate. And if a landowner declines an offer that the company would make, the burden falls on that landowner to sue them for compensation. So, it’s not only an uneven playing field for other companies in the state, and there are several that want to do this, but for landowners.”
Cummins reiterated that this is a landowners’ rights issue, not an issue with what Wabash Valley’s end product would be. With this particular land market being so new, “We don’t have a great idea of what the value of pore space is. But you know how you figure that out? You have a company go make an offer. Maybe the landowner accepts it or not, and they negotiate. They find a way, or a price, a value, a contract that’s agreeable to both sides. Under this bill, a landowner doesn’t have that full opportunity to negotiate.”
Again, Indiana Farm Bureau is encouraging you to reach out to members of the Environmental Affairs Committee to express opposition to Senate Bill 451 prior to the Monday morning 9am meeting. Click on the image of the Indiana senators on that committee to learn how you can contact them.
Cummins shares more on this complicated issue in the full HAT interview below.