This has been a great week for Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) in Louisiana. The first round of bills on CCS went forward yesterday, April 4. Four bills aiming to regulate or restrict CCS activities were scheduled by the House Natural Resources & Environment Committee and did not pass. One moved forward with amendments to the House floor.
DEFEATED/DEFERRED:
- HB 276 (Carter), requires that CCS projects comply with local land use and zoning ordinances.
- HB 280 (Coates), prohibits the permitting of any structures which protrude above the surface of Lake Maurepas and Lake Ponchartrain.
- HB 289 (Mack), prohibits Class VI injection wells in Caney Lake, Lake Maurepas, Lake Ponchartrain and Toledo Bend Reservoir.
- HB 389 (Mack), places a moratorium on CCS below Lake Maurepas and the Maurepas Swamp Wildlife Management Area.
- MOVED TO HOUSE FLOOR WITH AMENDMENTS:HB 516 (Mack), imposes additional requirements and restrictions on CCS projects, including emergency response plans, community notification systems, maps of CCS facilities, locations of CCS facilities, and groundwater monitoring. While the bill moved to the floor, committee members asked the author to consider additional amendments when the bill comes up for debate on the floor, and it is anticipated that there will be much discussion about additional amendments to the bill going forward.
The Second Round of CCS bills are scheduled for hearing before the same House Committee on Tuesday, April 9 – with seven bills on the agenda. Several of those bills are expected to be voted out of committee, with amendments. Stay tuned for a blog update on Monday morning with a forecast of that hearing.
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