Authority: IC 14-10-2-4; IC 14-10-2-5; IC 14-39-0.5

Affected: IC 4-21.5; IC 14-39

Sec. 7. (a) An involuntary integration order issued by the department expires five (5) years after issuance if the activity authorized by the order has not started. The department may grant an extension of one (1) year if good cause is shown by the petitioner for failing to start the activity authorized by the involuntary integration order.

(b) A pore space owner subject to an involuntary integration order, or another storage operator, may request that the department reduce the boundaries of an involuntary integration order after injection activity starts in the boundary of the order if:

(1) injection stopped for at least five (5) consecutive years; and

(2) the property requested to be removed from the order is not within the current or projected carbon dioxide plume for the storage facility based on the injection before the injection stopped.

Before reducing the boundary of an involuntary integration order, the department shall notify the petitioner in writing by first class mail of the request to reduce the boundaries and give the petitioner an opportunity to contest the boundary reduction.

(c) If:

(1) an involuntary integration order expires under subsection (a); or

(2) the boundaries of an involuntary integration order are reduced under subsection (b);

the rights and interests vested in the petitioner by the involuntary integration order, which the expired order or boundary reduction is based on, revert to the pore space owner.

(d) If the vested rights and interests are reverted to the pore space owner under subsection (c), the petitioner shall pay any amount due under this rule not later than the date the property is no longer subject to the involuntary integration order. Compensation paid to a pore space owner before the order is amended may not be paid back to the petitioner.

(e) If the vested rights and interests are reverted to the pore space owner, future payments by the petitioner, owed to the pore space owner no longer subject to the involuntary integration order, terminate.

(f) An involuntary integration order that expires under subsection (a), or a reduction to the boundaries of an involuntary integration order under subsection (b), does not alter contractual terms between the petitioner and a consenting pore space owner.

(g) Not later than thirty (30) days after obtaining a determination from the department under this section, a petitioner may request review and appeal of the determination under IC 4-21.5.

(Natural Resources Commission; 312 IAC 30-5.5-7; filed May 11, 2026, 9:58 a.m.: 20260610-IR-312250702FRA)