New Mexico Senate panel approves pore space bill

SANTA FE, N.M. -- A Senate committee has approved legislation that would establish ownership rights for the empty spaces that lie beneath New Mexico's dusty landscape.

Supporters of the measure say the so-called pore space will be valuable as technology advances to capture and store carbon dioxide emissions from fossil-fuel power plants and other industries. Three Western states already have tackled pore space ownership, and many others are considering legislation that would lay the groundwork for carbon capture and storage.

New Mexico's effort is being led by Jack Chatfield, a rancher from northeastern New Mexico who has been spending every day at the state Capitol to ensure the bill passes.

He said Thursday he was pleased with the 8-3 vote by the Senate Judiciary Committee. It clears the way for the bill to be heard by the full Senate.

"It's a win-win type of legislation that will put New Mexico into position to deal with cutting-edge technology. It will ensure the property rights of landowners and maintain a healthy oil and gas industry," Chatfield said.

The bill is considered the first step toward establishing a carbon storage market in the state. Supporters believe common law is clear that surface owners own the rights to pore space, but the legislation aims to spell that out to avoid legal challenges.

Representatives of the oil and natural gas industry have said they want to make sure the legislation will not infringe on their rights to develop leases for oil and gas deposits. The pore space that would be used for carbon storage lies about a half-mile underground.

Mark Fesmire, director of the state Oil Conservation Division, said the legislation represents a "baby step" toward carbon storage and the state would have to follow by establishing regulations to address safety, long-term liability and other concerns that could arise from carbon storage.

Storing carbon dioxide deep below the earth's surface has not yet been tested on a large scale in the United States. It is being done in Norway's North Sea, where the world's first commercial carbon capture and storage project is sequestering about one million metric tons of carbon dioxide each year.

Fesmire said he sees carbon storage as a "transition technology" that the U.S. can use to limit emissions while more renewable resources such as wind and solar are worked into the nation's energy portfolio.

One benefit, he said, is that carbon storage would require the same personnel, skills and machinery that is used during oil and gas development.

"The natural gas and oil industry is often cyclical. What this will do is be countercyclical and put some of the drillers, engineers, geologists and landmen to work when the oil and gas industry is down," he said.