During Wednesday’s session, the Indiana Senate amended legislation that would allow for more local regulation on carbon sequestration projects.
State Sen. Rick Niemeyer, R-Lowell, authored Senate Bill 7, which would require a carbon storage operator to receive approval from a county legislative body or plan commission if the sequestration project would transport or store carbon dioxide outside the county where it’s generated.
The bill, which is likely to pass, will be heard one more time in the Senate before it can move to the House.
State Sen. Scott Baldwin, R-Noblesville, presented an amendment that passed in a voice vote Wednesday. Baldwin’s amendment was the only one heard and voted on, even though four amendments were originally listed on the Indiana General Assembly website.
Baldwin’s amendment would give county commissioners the right to vote against projects built after July 2026. Any carbon sequestration project that received a permit before July 2026 would be excluded from the bill.
Niemeyer told the Senate that he supported the amendment before Wednesday’s vote.
During the Senate Environmental Affairs Committee meeting Tuesday, Niemeyer said he created the bill because Benton County had an issue with a previously planned carbon sequestration project. Trucks were doing seismic testing on farmland with approval of the property owner, but the plan commission and county commissioners “had no idea” about the project.
“The bill says that when you’re bringing a carbon sequestration project from outside your county, and you’re taking it to another county and bringing carbon outside the jurisdiction, it has to be noticed by a plan commission or county executive,” Niemeyer previously said. “It’s a property rights issue, it’s about zoning, and it’s about local control.”
Commissioners from Benton, Newton, and Vermillion counties supported the bill, praising its ability to create more local control. Oil and gas advocates have expressed concerns, saying that local governments won’t have the necessary expertise of carbon sequestration to make these decisions.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, carbon sequestration captures and stores atmospheric carbon dioxide. The method is used to reduce the atmosphere’s carbon dioxide “with the goal of reducing global climate change.”
Niemeyer said the bill does not apply to pipelines, which transports the carbon dioxide from capture site to its storage location, according to the Liquid Energy Pipeline Association.
In June 2025, BP indefinitely paused a previously announced carbon sequestration project, which would have required a pipeline to run through hundreds of miles in six Indiana counties to store carbon emissions underground, according to Post-Tribune archives.
“BP is committed to remaining a critical driver of this economic engine that powers Northwest Indiana and the Midwest,” a company spokesperson previously told the Post-Tribune. “While we are indefinitely pausing our low-carbon project in the region, our focus is on building a strong, economically competitive future for our Whiting Refinery.”
The Senate is expected to vote on Senate Bill 7 on Thursday.