House Concurrent Resolution No. by Representative Owen establishes a special task force aimed at evaluating the capacity of government, industry, and academia to model the behavior of geologically sequestered carbon dioxide. This initiative comes in light of recent legislation in Louisiana that permits carbon capture and sequestration, as well as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency granting the state primary enforcement authority over Class VI underground injection wells. The task force will assess whether a reliable method exists to predict the behavior of carbon dioxide stored underground and, if not, will create a timeline for developing such a method.

The task force will consist of key representatives from the House and Senate Committees on Natural Resources, the Department of Energy and Natural Resources, the Department of Environmental Quality, and the Louisiana Board of Regents. By July 1, 2025, the task force is required to report its initial findings regarding the existence of a modeling method and, if necessary, provide a timeline for developing and testing a new method. The resolution emphasizes the importance of accurately modeling the behavior of sequestered carbon dioxide to assess the risks and rewards associated with carbon sequestration in Louisiana.