Senate permits leasing of CO2 pore space under state parks, limits surface development

The Senate passed Engrossed Committee Substitute for Senate Bill 627 on March 7 by a vote of 29 ayes, 3 nays and 2 absent not voting. The measure removes a prohibition on leasing state-owned pore space under lands designated as state parks for carbon dioxide sequestration where subsurface pore space is implicated.

Sponsor remarks on the Senate floor provided legislative history of prior CO2 sequestration pilot and permanent programs enacted in 2009 and 2022 and explained the limited change: if injected CO2 laterally migrates beneath a state park, the director of the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) may negotiate a leasing fee for use of the pore space. The sponsor said, "There is nothing in this legislation that will allow drilling on state parks," and that revenues would go to the Department of Natural Resources.

A supporting senator from Cabell noted that Senator Bug Stover, a longtime parks advocate who participated in committee review, expressed comfort with the bill's guardrails. "I'm satisfied that we're not going to have any drilling on state parks. No wells. No pipes. No well heads," the senator said.

Floor discussion referenced prior legislative guidance for CO2 sequestration programs and said the bill is intended to align existing law with implementation realities, not to authorize surface infrastructure within park boundaries. The sponsor walked through the statutory history of pilot programs and the 2022 permanent program administered by the Department of Environmental Protection.

Votes at a glance: Engrossed committee substitute for Senate Bill 627 — passed 29 ayes, 3 nays, 2 absent not voting.

The clerk will communicate the Senate action to the House of Delegates for its consideration.