A bill that aims to help get a state pilot program on carbon sequestration going passed the state House on Tuesday. It now includes more rights for landowners and a strict deadline.
The amended bill, Senate Bill 451, addresses at least some of the concerns that farmers and landowners had with Wabash Valley Resources storing its carbon emissions under their land.
They still can’t opt out of the project. But instead of a one-time payment of at least $250 per acre, they would get an annual payout of 40 percent of the average cash rent in Indiana based on an annual Purdue survey.
That works out to about $100 per acre every year for the life of the project, said Jeff Cummins with the Indiana Farm Bureau. He said when a similar bill was proposed last year, landowners weren’t even guaranteed payment and couldn’t sue if something went wrong with the project.
Source: indianapublicmedia.org
Categories: Indiana, Government & Policy