House Bill 89 states that surface landowners control the underground pore spaces where carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas and byproduct of burning coal to make electricity, could be stored.
House Bill 90 sets up a regulatory regime for the practice of carbon sequestration under the supervision of the Department of Environmental Quality with assistance from the state Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.
The bills must pass one more reading in the House, pass the Senate and be signed by the governor to become law.