Tell Your PA Legislators to VOTE NO on Senator Yaw’s Carbon Dioxide Injection and Storage Bill!

Last week, Governor Shapiro introduced his new energy plan. It aims to do many things including support the ARCH 2 hydrogen hubs projects, “low carbon natural gas” facilities, and carbon capture and storage projects.

This comes on the heels of a power company, Tenaska, announcing a tri-state carbon capture and storage project in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia. In Pennsylvania, Tenaska plans to operate three carbon dioxide injection wells in Washington County as part of the Oak Grove project.

This project will require carbon dioxide to be piped - requiring thousands of miles of pipelines - or trucked in from industrial sources across the region. After the carbon dioxide arrives at the storage field, it will be injected into pore space via a well on the surface.

Pore space refers to voids between rock, dirt, and sand below the surface. It is similar to mineral rights, coal, or oil and gas, because it can be leased or sold to injection well operators, so they have the right to inject carbon into those spaces. After carbon dioxide is injected into the ground, it is expected to remain there permanently.

Carbon dioxide injection wells are relatively new in the United States. The Environmental Protection Agency program that allows this activity is just over a decade old. Our laws and regulations in Pennsylvania do not address carbon dioxide injection wells. This gap in our laws creates many unresolved legal issues with operators and land owners, such as who is the rightful owner of pore space.

Due to these legislative gaps, Senator Yaw introduced Senate Bill (“SB”) SB 831. However, this bill creates more issues than it set out to resolve.

The biggest flaw in the bill is that it requires operators of carbon storage fields and injection wells to acquire the consent of only 60% of pore space owners to move forward with a project. This means that if 40% of landowners within the storage field are fiercely opposed to the project, it can move forward anyway!

Also, the bill allows an operator to enter a landowner's property without their consent to perform seismic studies. Seismic studies send soundwaves into the ground using “explosive or vibrating plates” to determine what the earth looks like underground. These surveys have been reported to be loud and can interfere with the enjoyment of daily life.

The bill also makes it difficult for landowners to get relief from operators in court. The bill requires the landowner to prove that the carbon dioxide injection, or the migration of carbon dioxide, created health issues, prevented the use of their property, or caused injury to a person, animal, or the property. Proving this is often expensive and requires a lot of time, a burden that landowners often can't take on.

It is obvious that SB 831 is only meant to benefit industry and does nothing to protect landowners from the usual power imbalance that comes from interacting with industry. Instead, it increases the imbalance and allows industry to proceed where it is not wanted, without much recourse.

The bill currently is sitting in the Senate and is expected to be introduced into the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee. It is expected to move quickly. Take action below to tell your legislators to oppose this dangerous bill!

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Vote NO on SB 831!

Dear [elected official],

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I urge you to vote no on SB 831, Senator Yaw’s Carbon Dioxide Geologic Sequestration Primacy Act. As written, this bill would allow carbon injection to occur in a storage field where the injector has only received consent from 60% of pore space owners. In other words, if 40% of people within a carbon storage field don’t want carbon injected beneath their feet - the project can move forward anyway.

The bill not only contains this major flaw, but other deficiencies that are detrimental to landowners in Pennsylvania, including allowing operators to enter private property without permission and requiring landowners to prove the project caused them injury.

Lastly, SB 831 would allow for injection well operators to pass off all liability of these sites onto the state in as little as ten years. Pennsylvania is already struggling with abandoned and orphaned oil and gas wells. The state cannot afford to take on the burden of carbon dioxide storage wells too. SB 831 must not become law.

Senator Yaw’s bill would greatly limit the rights of landowners living near future carbon dioxide storage fields, and I strongly recommend you VOTE NO on SB 831.

Sincerely, [Your information here]