Provides relative to compensation for pore space owners (OR SEE FISC NOTE GF RV)

House Bill 499 amends Louisiana Revised Statutes section 30:1104.2 to establish protections for nonconsenting landowners in carbon dioxide sequestration units. The bill modifies subsection (C) by adding a provision that prohibits nonconsenting owners in interest from receiving per acre compensation that falls below the average per acre compensation paid to all other owners in the storage unit. Additionally, the bill amends subsection (D) to grant courts the explicit authority to request information necessary to determine just compensation when reviewing compensation disputes. These changes operate within the existing unitization framework that governs how the commissioner creates unit orders requiring all affected landowners to participate in geologic storage operations while ensuring equitable distribution of benefits and compensation among all participants.

The practical effect of this legislation is to establish a compensation floor for nonconsenting property owners whose land is incorporated into a carbon dioxide storage unit. Landowners who refuse to voluntarily enter into contracts with storage operators can no longer be offered less per acre than the average amount being paid to consenting owners in the same unit. This protection applies during judicial review proceedings where nonconsenting owners challenge whether compensation offered by the storage operator or the commissioner's unitization order is just and equitable. Storage operators and courts now have clearer guidance that compensation disputes must account for comparative per acre payments across the unit, and courts gain explicit power to compel disclosure of compensation information from all parties to properly assess whether the minimum standard is being met.

This legislation operates within Louisiana's unitization statutes governing geologic storage, which are designed to facilitate carbon dioxide sequestration projects by allowing operators to consolidate multiple tracts of land into functioning storage units even when not all owners consent to participation. The existing legal framework in R.S. 30:1104.2 already required just and equitable compensation and authorized judicial review of compensation adequacy, but the bill strengthens protections for nonconsenting owners by establishing a statutory minimum tied to the compensation of consenting owners. The amendment respects existing contracts between operators and consenting owners while preventing nonconsenting owners from being treated as secondary participants entitled to lesser compensation per acre. Courts reviewing these matters under the preference procedures already established in Louisiana law now possess explicit discovery authority to obtain the comparative compensation data necessary to calculate whether the per acre floor requirement has been satisfied.