Abstract: Establishes requirements for carbon dioxide sequestration regarding emergency preparedness, notice of the construction of pipelines, and ground water quality, contamination, remediation, and financial security.
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Present law establishes the La. Geologic Sequestration of Carbon Dioxide Act, which provides for definitions, authority of the commissioner of conservation, and requirements for the injection of carbon dioxide and for carbon dioxide storage facilities.
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Proposed law retains present law and adds definitions for "public water system" and "transmission pipeline".
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Present law requires storage facilities to have an emergency and remedial response plan in place prior to injection and requires storage facility owners and operators to provide parish governing authorities with a copy of the plan.
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Proposed law retains present law and adds that transmission pipelines must also have emergency and remedial response plans that the pipeline operator must provide to parish governing authorities.
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Present law requires that a tabletop exercise be conducted prior to injection operations.
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Proposed law provides that the pre-injection exercise may also be field training and that training must also be offered by the operators once a year for the duration of injection operations.
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Proposed law also requires that equipment and supplies necessary for local fire departments to effectively respond to an emergency stemming from a storage facility or pipeline must be identified during this pre-injection training.
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Proposed law prohibits the commencement of injection operations until at least one fire department in each parish with a transmission pipeline or injection well has such equipment and supplies in their possession or readily available for their use and requires operators to at least provide these departments with necessary personal protective equipment.
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Present law requires that storage facility owners and operators conduct periodic testing and monitoring of ground water quality above the confining zone and report semiannually to the office of conservation regarding such testing and monitoring.
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Proposed law repeals present law and requires the following of storage facility owners and operators instead:
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(1) Remediation plans for ground water contamination by carbon dioxide.
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(2) Monitoring of underground sources of drinking water with quarterly reporting to the department.
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(3) Routine sampling of public water systems by a third party when requested by the system.
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(4) Provision of potable water and water safe for other uses when monitoring indicates that a source of drinking water is unsafe and for as long as that source of drinking water remains unsafe.
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Proposed law requires storage facility's to obtain financial security or insurance to cover the costs of the following related to contamination of public water systems by carbon dioxide:
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(1) Remediation of the contamination.
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(2) Damages to system equipment and facilities caused by contamination or remediation.
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(3) Expenses incurred by the system due to contamination or remediation.
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Directs the La. State Law Institute to alphabetize and renumber the definitions contained in proposed law and to correct any cross-references that may need to be changed as a result of the renumbering.