Ag:
- Bill is unnecessary as Agriculture is the way to manage CO2 emissions. Plant more trees and winter grasses that recycle the carbon into oxygen and non-till farming to keep carbon stored in soil.
Conceding to Climate Change:
- This Bill is being forced on the PA oil and gas industry to placate the climate change agenda.
- There is no assurance that carbon will remain contained within the storage unit long term.
Infringement on Property Rights:
- Establishes a form of eminent domain over property owners’ pore space.
- No agreements are required with property owners before a company acquires permits from DEP for carbon storage.
- If property is owned by multiple owners, the Environmental Hearing Board can require that carbon capture be done on the shared property without unanimous consent (was only 60% agreement, amended to 75% agreement). What’s worse is that the Board would be able to order payment of attorney fees and costs for the hearing to non-consenting property owners.
- Would allow for entry onto private property for seismic testing (needs continual testing) without owner’s consent.
Liability:
- Giant void in legislation as to who is responsible for various potential disaster situations.
- Owners can seek damages if CO2 migration causes harm or reduces property value, but storage operators can defend against punitive damages if they acted reasonably.
Subsidies:
- Tax dollars to corporations for the least effective and most expensive means of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Government Bloat and Fee Mandates:
- Establish a Carbon Dioxide Storage Facility Fund to manage fees and expenses related to these activities.
- Storage operators must pay fees based on CO2 injected to cover DEP’s regulatory costs. Fees are split between the Carbon Dioxide Storage Facility Fund and an escrow account for long-term monitoring.
- The bill introduces new regulatory requirements for the storage and management of CO₂ emissions. Oil and gas companies may face increased operational costs to comply with these regulations.
Additional notes: There is NO language in this bill that would prohibit foreign entities from acquiring PA land. BP, Sunoco, Shell, Exxon, etc. are all on board for this bill, likely because they think the writing is on the wall and oil and gas are going down because of the globalist agenda. The unions are also on board because they will expand unions this way. The Dems that are opposed to this bill are opposed because they favor “green” hydrogen that uses water to split atoms into hydrogen and oxygen, only it takes a MASSIVE amount of energy, and in order for it to be “green” it has to use a renewable source like solar or wind. This bill provides for “blue” hydrogen, which uses natural gas and creates carbon as a byproduct that they then want to store so it’s considered climate friendly. This is the only avenue oil and gas see to keep their piece of the pie because of its necessity for natural gas use. Make no mistake though, Shapiro’s push for PA to be on 30% renewable energy by 2030 is a massive affront to oil and gas. Between the Fiedler bill (HB2338) and this one, they are seeking to decimate PA’s oil and gas industry, and we are the country’s number one supplier of liquid gas (or at least was before they shut down Keystone pipeline).