All Roll Calls
Yes: 254 • No: 167
IndianaHB 1368Second Regular Session 124th General Assembly (2026)House
Carbon.
Sponsored By: Edmond Soliday (Republican)
Signed by Governor
Summary
Requires a utility to accept certain methods of payment from the department of natural resources (department) for utility service provided to a property owned by the department. Prohibits a utility from limiting or restricting the: (1) dollar amount to less than $10,000; or (2) number of allowable payment transactions for a singular invoice to less than five; with respect to a payment made by one of the specified payment methods. Provides that for any singular property owned by the department, the department may request from a utility a consolidated bill for the property. Requires a utility that receives such a request to provide the department with a singular invoice for the entire property, unless the utility is unable to do so because of billing limitations or other operational constraints. Requires the natural resources commission to obtain primary enforcement authority from the United States Environmental Protection Agency to regulate Class VI underground injection wells. Grants the natural resources commission authority to adopt rules to regulate Class VI underground injection wells. Provides a mechanism and regulatory scheme for underground storage of carbon dioxide in Indiana but excludes the carbon sequestration pilot project from application of the new requirements. Specifies that the carbon sequestration pilot project's Class VI wells are not experimental.
utilitiesthe senate
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
17 provisions identified: 2 benefits, 3 costs, 12 mixed.
Landowners face pooling with compensation protections
Before approving storage, the department must review safety, water, health, environmental effects, and the public interest. Owners of underground pore space beneath at least 70% of the surface area above the facility must consent. After good-faith efforts to reach agreements, the department can combine consenting and nonconsenting owners' storage rights, with fair compensation for nonconsenting owners. An involuntary order does not transfer property title unless the parties agree. Carbon storage rights remain subordinate to oil and gas rights, but this clause no longer includes coal rights. Projects can harm oil and gas resources only as strictly needed to build and maintain permanent storage.
Groundwater safeguards for carbon storage wells
Indiana's Department of Natural Resources cannot issue new aquifer exemptions, including for Class VI carbon storage wells. An existing Class II enhanced-recovery exemption can expand for Class VI use only with federal approval under 40 CFR 144.7. The department must help the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency with qualifying expansions and follow that rule. Indiana's Natural Resources Commission must coordinate with the department on carbon storage well rules. Those rules must include what Indiana needs to obtain primary enforcement authority from the federal agency.
Public gains input on carbon storage
Permit notices must appear in each project county for two consecutive weeks and be mailed to specified affected and nearby owners. Mailed notice covers specified mineral, pore-space, and surface owners in the project area or within one-half mile of the reservoir boundary. The public gets at least 30 days to comment and at least 30 days' notice before a hearing. Significant public interest requires a hearing; the department must consider comments, answer substantive comments, and post required information. Beginning July 1, 2026, the department must also provide public participation in enforcement proceedings.
Carbon storage violators face escalating daily penalties
Beginning July 1, 2026, carbon storage violations carry civil penalties of $2,500 per day for a first violation. The rate is $5,000 per day for a second violation and $10,000 for a third or later violation. These amounts apply for each day the violation continues.
Carbon pipelines face possible location rules
The Department of Natural Resources can set location and setback rules for carbon dioxide transmission pipelines. Pipeline operators are subject to any requirements adopted under this authority. The law itself sets no setback distance or deadline for adopting rules.
Carbon storage applicants face costs, longer reviews
Carbon storage permit applicants must pay the department's costs for publishing hearing notices and holding permit hearings. The department may also recover notice costs from storage operators. The law sets no dollar amount for these costs. The department now has 180 days, instead of 90, to notify applicants of approval or denial. That clock starts when the department receives proof that notice was published.
Storage property gets notices and disclosures
The department can enter property at reasonable times to inspect or maintain carbon injection or storage monitoring wells. Except during emergencies, surface owners must get at least five business days' notice by mail, courier, personal delivery, or another agreed written method. Operators must permanently disclose carbon storage use on the deed or another record normally checked during a title search. That record must include agency contacts, injection volumes, zones, and injection periods for future buyers.
Carbon permits can change or transfer
Beginning upon passage, interested people can request permit changes, suspension, revocation and reissuance, or termination in writing, with supporting reasons. Modification requests must also meet department criteria, and the department can initiate permit actions. Operators can transfer or assign permits, but must notify the department, which can require changes or reissuance. Permits cover the facility's operating life and post-injection care; holders must follow adopted federal rules. Permit compliance counts as compliance for enforcement purposes, but specified violations still allow the department to change or end a permit. People challenging department decisions can request informal review before a formal hearing, while formal review and appeal remain available. The department must schedule informal review within 30 days and give at least 30 days' notice; requesters must provide evidence and pay first-class-mail notice costs.
Carbon storage violations bring daily penalties
The law bans unpermitted injection, experimental Class VI storage wells, fluid movement into drinking-water sources, and other federally prohibited activities. Reporting errors, operating failures, hazardous conditions, and likely harm to people or the environment also count as violations. Beginning July 1, 2026, civil penalties are $2,500 daily for a first violation, $5,000 for a second, and $10,000 for later violations. Unfixed violations can bring stop-work orders and another $750 daily for up to 30 days; missing required permits or certificates brings a $10,000 penalty. The department can consider good-faith repairs, ability to fix problems, enforcement costs, and economic benefits when reducing civil penalties. Beginning July 1, 2026, knowing and intentional violations are Class A misdemeanors, with each violation carrying at least $5,000 daily based on severity, risks, and repair efforts.
Carbon wells face construction, pressure safeguards
Operators must show that storage rock can hold the expected carbon dioxide and that sealing layers can contain it without fractures. Wells need durable, compatible materials, continuous monitoring, and drilling tests with baseline data and analyst reports. Injection pressure cannot exceed 90% of the injection zone's fracture pressure, except during approved stimulation, and cannot fracture sealing layers or endanger drinking water. Nearby drilling must follow department safeguards within 330 feet of a Class VI well's surface location or 500 feet of the uppermost sealing layer inside the facility boundary. The nearby-drilling clause no longer expressly lists compliance with the Class VI permit and other regulations.
Indiana sets carbon storage oversight rules
Indiana establishes a state framework for carbon storage wells, with primary enforcement authority dependent on federal approval. The Department of Natural Resources must identify and protect underground drinking-water sources and issue any needed extra safeguards. State rules must match federal drinking-water requirements, and carbon storage operators must follow the Safe Drinking Water Act. Operators storing carbon dioxide in oil and gas reservoirs need Class VI permits when the department finds greater drinking-water risk than Class II operations. That risk-based permit requirement takes effect upon passage.
Storage operators face decades of monitoring
Beginning upon passage, operators must send required federal reports on schedule and provide additional well-specific records or monitoring after written notice. After injection ends, operators must monitor the carbon dioxide plume and pressure front under an approved plan for at least 50 years. The department can approve another period only with substantial evidence of no drinking-water danger and compliance with federal standards. Monitoring continues until the department approves that demonstration; operators must submit and carry out continued-care plans when proof is missing or rejected. After closure approval, operators must plug monitoring wells and submit a closure report no more than 90 days before closure.
Carbon storage projects need permits, fees
Indiana authorizes underground carbon storage through Class VI wells, but operators need permits before construction or operation. Approval has two phases: permission to build and operate, then permission to inject. Applications must include technical and safety plans, financial responsibility, maps, other required permits, and information about effects on mineral interests. Applicants pay a nonrefundable $0.01 per metric ton proposed for injection during the first 10 years. Operators pay another $0.01 per metric ton for any amount injected above that projection during those years.
Investigation wells require permits and bonds
A permit is required before drilling, deepening, operating, or converting covered wells for carbon dioxide investigations. Applicants must provide surveyed well information and surface-use agreements addressing subsurface trespass; violations can justify permit denial. Applicants pay a $250 fee and post a cash bond of $10 per foot of depth for each well. Collected amounts go to the carbon sequestration project program administrative fund. Drilling must start within one year or the permit expires; otherwise, it lasts until plugging, conversion, or revocation. Operators must maintain wells, correct harm from noncompliance, and plug unused wells unless converted to Class VI injection or monitoring wells. Plugging can wait during a conversion application if the well is capped and maintained; bond payers can request release after plugging and abandonment or transfer.
Storage operators can seek depth waivers
Storage operators can request waivers from well depth requirements. Applications must include technical maps, drinking-water and public water supply information, and results of required consultations with affected states and tribes. Operators must publish notice in each affected county. The department cannot approve a waiver without written agreement from Indiana's environmental agency and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Granted waiver details must be posted online within 30 days, and operators must follow any changed construction or operating requirements.
Utilities must offer state payment options
Beginning July 1, 2026, utilities serving Department of Natural Resources property must accept electronic transfers and credit or debit cards. Card payment limits cannot be below $10,000, and utilities must allow at least five electronic-transfer or card transactions per invoice. These requirements cover retail electricity, natural gas, water, and wastewater service. When the department requests it, utilities must provide one bill per property regardless of meters, connections, or structures. If billing or operating limits prevent one bill, utilities must send the fewest possible.
West Terre Haute gets storage pilot
The law authorizes a carbon capture and storage pilot at the proposed ammonia plant at 444 West Sandford Avenue, West Terre Haute. Operations are limited to Vigo and Vermillion counties and no more than two carbon dioxide pipelines. Injection requires a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Class VI well permit. The department director must name the operator within 30 days after that permit is issued. The pilot section expires July 1, 2028, if the designated operator has not received the permit by then.
Sponsors & Cosponsors
Sponsor
Edmond Soliday
Republican • House
Cosponsors
David Niezgodski
Democratic • Senate
Eric Koch
Republican • Senate
Roll Call Votes
House vote • 2/27/2026
House concurred with Senate amendments
Yes: 57 • No: 40
House vote • 2/27/2026
Rules Suspended. Committee report, adopted
Yes: 63 • No: 29
House vote • 2/26/2026
Concurrence defeated
Yes: 48 • No: 42
Senate vote • 2/24/2026
Third reading: passed
Yes: 29 • No: 19
House vote • 1/28/2026
Third reading: passed
Yes: 57 • No: 37
Actions Timeline
Public Law 161
3/12/2026HouseSigned by the Governor
3/12/2026HouseSigned by the President Pro Tempore
3/5/2026SenateSigned by the President of the Senate
3/2/2026SenateHouse concurred with Senate amendments; Roll Call 420: yeas 57, nays 40
2/27/2026HouseRules Suspended. Committee report, adopted; Roll Call 419: yeas 63, nays 29
2/27/2026HouseSigned by the Speaker
2/27/2026HouseConcurrence defeated; Roll Call 399: yeas 48, nays 42
2/26/2026HouseMotion to concur filed
2/26/2026HouseMotion to concur filed
2/26/2026HouseReturned to the House with amendments
2/25/2026SenateThird reading: passed; Roll Call 259: yeas 29, nays 19
2/24/2026SenateSenator Niezgodski added as cosponsor
2/16/2026SenateAmendment #2 (Koch) prevailed; voice vote
2/10/2026SenateSecond reading: amended, ordered engrossed
2/10/2026SenateAmendment #1 (Koch) prevailed; voice vote
2/10/2026SenateCommittee report: amend do pass, adopted
2/5/2026SenateFirst reading: referred to Committee on Utilities
2/2/2026SenateReferred to the Senate
1/29/2026HouseThird reading: passed; Roll Call 114: yeas 57, nays 37
1/28/2026HouseSenate sponsor: Senator Koch
1/28/2026HouseSecond reading: ordered engrossed
1/22/2026HouseCommittee report: amend do pass, adopted
1/20/2026HouseAuthored by Representative Soliday
1/8/2026HouseFirst reading: referred to Committee on Utilities, Energy and Telecommunications
1/8/2026House
Bill Text
Engrossed House Bill (H)
Enrolled House Bill (H)
House Bill (S)
Introduced House Bill (H)
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