Ariz. House Backs Bill Aiding Gas Storage Project

PAUL DAVENPORT

PHOENIX (AP) — A bill advancing in the Arizona Legislature would help a Texas company's proposal to store natural gas in a stadium-sized underground cavern by loosening state regulatory protections for groundwater.

The House on Tuesday gave preliminary approval to the bill amid lengthy debate over whether the project planned in Pinal County in south-central Arizona by a Houston-based natural gas storage company, MultiFuels LP, could pose a risk to the environment.

The bill would exempt so-called injection wells from a state permitting process for aquifer protection. The project would use injection wells to pump extremely salty water back into the ground after the brine is removed from an underground cavern for gas storage created when a salt formation is dissolved.

Democrats said the bill was bad enough as originally introduced but was made worse when amended in committee to include injection wells for possible contaminants ranging from radioactive waste to municipal wastewater

The bill is overly broad and too risky to the environment, said Rep. Daniel Patterson of Tucson, one of several Democrats who unsuccessfully argued against the bill. "There is no good reason to pass a statewide exemption."