Late last week Governor Dave Freudenthal signed into law two bills that should help define the state’s regulatory structure for the underground storage of carbon dioxide gas.

One of the bills gives precedent to the right to mine or drill for resources over the right to store carbon gas underground. The other legislation specifies that whoever injects carbon gas underground remains legally responsible for it.

Because it is the largest coal-producing state in the country, Wyoming is anxious to manage carbon gas, a byproduct of coal-fired power plants. It became the first state in the nation last year to pass a law for underground carbon storage. That law established that the owners of the surface of the land also own the underground storage rights.

An additional carbon-related bill expected to be signed by the governor would establish procedures for companies to follow to apply to the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission for orders allowing them to proceed with underground carbon storage.

Under the bill, the commission would issue “unitization” orders to establish how much landowners would be paid for carbon storage. It would also set up a process in which owners of a minority of the land surface could be forced to participate in a project.

“It’s very important that Wyoming have a seat at the table on these issues, and that we try to control our own destiny on coal, because we are the leading coal producer in the country,” said Mary Throne, D-Cheyenne, a member of the House Judiciary Committee.

Rep. Tom Lubnau, R-Gillette, has been shepherding the carbon bills. Freudenthal announced that Lubnau, an attorney, has been invited to speak at a symposium at Harvard Law School next month on Wyoming’s efforts to draft laws dealing with carbon storage.