Proposes removing the authority to use eminent domain for carbon dioxide sequestration projects in Louisiana. Specifically, the bill seeks to eliminate the ability of companies to expropriate property for injecting or transporting carbon dioxide for geologic sequestration. Additionally, it aims to repeal the current legal declaration that deems geologic storage of carbon dioxide as serving a public interest and purpose.

TALKERS on this:

HB380 Talking points

• Carbon storage involves injecting concentrated carbon dioxide deep underground, creating serious safety risks. Any leaks can displace breathable air at ground level, causing suffocation and death, as has tragically occurred elsewhere.
• Carbon dioxide injection threatens Louisiana's precious groundwater and aquifers. Leakage could permanently contaminate drinking water sources, harming communities and ecosystems.
• CCS projects are extraordinarily expensive, requiring significant taxpayer subsidies. These costly projects divert precious taxpayer dollars away from essential services, infrastructure improvements, agriculture, education, and flood protection.
• Unlike roads, hospitals, or schools, carbon storage provides no tangible product or meaningful improvement in the daily lives of Louisiana's citizens. Quite the contrary.
• Eminent domain, the government's power to take private land, legally requires the taken property to benefit the public directly. Carbon storage projects clearly fail this standard, as they provide no direct public benefit—only potential harm, risk, and expense to residents.
• Carbon storage facilities and pipelines unjustly infringe on property rights through eminent domain, forcing landowners to surrender their property for private, speculative ventures, funded by taxpayer money, offering them no genuine benefit.
• Given these clear dangers, expenses, the unjust use of eminent domain, and lack of genuine public benefit, Louisiana should strongly support House Bill 380, ending eminent domain for carbon dioxide storage, protecting citizens' safety, property rights, and financial interests.

In February 2020, a significant incident occurred in Satartia, Mississippi, involving a carbon dioxide (CO₂) pipeline rupture. The pipeline, owned by Denbury Resources, ruptured and released over 31,000 barrels of CO₂. This event led to the evacuation of more than 300 residents, and over 40 individuals were hospitalized with symptoms of CO₂ poisoning and oxygen deprivation.

While there were no fatalities reported in this incident, the health impacts on the affected individuals were significant. Exposure to high concentrations of CO₂ can displace oxygen in the air, leading to suffocation, loss of consciousness, and other serious health effects.

Historically, natural CO₂ seeps have been associated with fatalities. A study examining death records over a 50-year period identified 19 deaths likely caused by CO₂ leakage, particularly in regions with significant natural emissions, such as certain areas in Italy.

Prohibits the use of eminent domain or unitization for the purpose of constructing or operating pipelines that transport carbon dioxide.

Key Provisions:

- Removes existing legal authority allowing entities to expropriate property for the transport or underground storage of carbon dioxide via pipeline.

- Amends current law to prohibit storage operators from using eminent domain to build or operate CO₂ pipelines.

- Creates new statute (R.S. 30:1108.1) that:

 - Prohibits any person or entity from using eminent domain to acquire property for CO₂ pipeline projects.

 - Prohibits unitization of private property for CO₂ pipelines without the owner's consent.

Establishes a lien mechanism for victims of carbon dioxide (CO2) pipeline releases within a 25-mile radius of the incident. Grants victims priority claims for damages against the assets of pipeline owners and CO2 suppliers.

Key Provisions: 

- Defines "kill zone" as a 25-mile radius from the site of a CO2 pipeline release. 

- Grants any affected person or property within the kill zone a lien for damages on all assets of the pipeline owner and CO2 supplier, regardless of intent or liability. 

- Damages covered include healthcare costs, death, disability, property damage, and punitive damages. 

- Victims must file a financing statement to perfect the lien within 365 days of the release or 180 days of the last reported release by the same pipeline. 

- The lien is retroactively prioritized to the date of the initial release over any prior lien or security interest. 

- Financing statements remain effective until terminated; victims must file a termination statement if obligations are met or rights are relinquished. 

- If an owner enters bankruptcy or receivership, their assets must be held in trust for 365 days to allow victims time to file liens.

Establishes a state excise tax on the operation of carbon capture and storage (CCS) pipelines in Louisiana. Anything that helps the state inhibit this activity and prepare for the fiscal impact of the threat of toxic disaster carbon sequestration poses should be passed.

Key Provisions: 

- Imposes an excise tax of $0.05 per mile, per ton of carbon dioxide or related substances transported through CCS pipelines. 

- Tax is reported and paid quarterly by pipeline operators to the Department of Revenue. 

- Revenues, after constitutional obligations, are distributed to parishes where the CCS pipelines are located. 

- Revenue allocation is based on the proportion of taxable pipeline activity in each parish per quarter. 

- Parishes must spend remitted funds on projects or services within three miles of a CCS pipeline, including infrastructure, environmental mitigation/restoration, public safety, or emergency response. 

- Effective for taxable periods beginning on or after July 1, 2025.