§1108. Eminent domain; expropriation

            A.(1) Any storage operator is hereby authorized, after obtaining any permit and any certificate of public convenience and necessity from the commissioner required by this Chapter, to exercise the power of eminent domain and expropriate needed property to acquire surface and subsurface rights and property interests necessary or useful for the purpose of constructing, operating, or modifying a storage facility and the necessary infrastructure including the laying, maintaining, and operating of pipelines for the transportation of carbon dioxide to a storage facility, together with utility, telegraph, and telephone lines necessary and incidental to the operation of these storage facilities and pipelines, over private property thus expropriated; and have the further right to construct and develop storage facilities and the necessary infrastructure, including the laying, maintaining, and operating of pipelines along, across, over, and under any navigable stream or public highway, street, bridge, or other public place; and also have the authority, under the right of expropriation herein conferred, to cross railroads, street railways, and other pipelines, by expropriating property necessary for the crossing under the general expropriation laws of this state. The right to run along, across, over, or under any public road, bridge, or highway, as before provided for, may be exercised only upon condition that the traffic thereon is not interfered with, and that such road or highway is promptly restored to its former condition of usefulness, at the expense of the storage facility and the pipeline owner if different from the storage operator, the restoration to be subject also to the supervision and approval of the proper local authorities.

            (2) The exercise of eminent domain or expropriation powers under this Section shall not allow for the expropriation of reservoir storage rights for geologic storage. This prohibition against the use of expropriation of reservoir storage rights for geologic storage shall not apply to the exercise of expropriation powers in connection with any parish as to which Paragraph (B)(2) of this Section is applicable.

            (3) In the exercise of the privilege conferred by this Section, owners or operators of such storage facilities and pipelines shall compensate the parish, municipality, or road district, respectively, for any damage done to a public road, in the construction of storage facilities, and the laying of pipelines, utility, telegraph, or telephone lines, along, under, over, or across the road. Nothing in this Chapter shall be construed to grant any transporter the right to use any public street or alley of any parish, incorporated city, town, or village, except by express permission from the parish, city, or other governing authority.

            B.(1) Except as provided in Paragraph (2) of this Subsection, the exercise of the right of eminent domain granted in this Chapter shall not prevent persons having the right to do so from drilling through the storage facility in such manner as shall comply with the rules of the commissioner issued for the purpose of protecting the storage facility against pollution or invasion and against the escape or migration of carbon dioxide. Furthermore, the right of eminent domain set out in this Section shall not prejudice the rights of the owners of the lands or minerals as to all other uses not acquired for the storage facility and not reasonably necessary for the use of the acquired property. 

            (2) The exercise of the right of eminent domain granted in this Section may prohibit persons having the right to do so from drilling through the storage facility located in Caldwell Parish only when the following requirements are satisfied:

            (a) A period of five years has elapsed from the actual drilling or operation of any oil or gas well within the boundaries of the storage facility to depths below the base of the underground reservoir component of the storage facility as determined by the commissioner of conservation.

            (b) All reservoirs below the underground reservoir component of the storage facility that were drilled to and produced in any oil or gas well located within the boundaries of the storage facility are no longer capable of producing minerals in paying quantities as determined by the commissioner of conservation.

            (3) If a party who has the right to explore for and produce minerals from depths below the base of the underground reservoir component of the storage facility is prohibited from drilling through the storage facility under Paragraph (2) of this Subsection by the exercise of the right of eminent domain granted in this Section, that prohibition shall terminate upon a finding by the commissioner, after notice and hearing conducted in accordance with R.S. 30:1105(C), that the storage facility operator abandoned all reasonable efforts to use, or cause others to use, the storage facility prior to any use of the underground reservoir component of the storage facility for the storage of carbon dioxide.

            C. The eminent domain authority authorized under this Chapter shall be exercised pursuant to the procedures found in R.S. 19:2, and shall be in addition to any other power of eminent domain authorized by law.

            D. The commissioner is neither a necessary nor indispensable party to an eminent domain proceeding, and if named as a party or third party has an absolute right to be dismissed from said action at the expense of the party who names the commissioner. The commissioner shall recover all costs reasonably incurred to be dismissed from the action, including attorney fees.

            Acts 2009, No. 517, §2; Acts 2020, No. 61, §1; Acts 2022, No. 163, §1; Acts 2024, No. 620, §2.