4. Comments on Proposed Decision

The proposed decision of the ALJ in this matter was mailed to the parties in accordance with Section 311 of the Public Utilities Code and comments were allowed under Rule 14.3 of the Commission's Rules of Practice and Procedure. NRDC requested, and received, authorization to file comments late. No party sought leave to file reply comments.

NRDC asks us to insert the word "adequate" into the proposed, revised rule, as follows:

The plan must comply with Federal and/or State monitoring, verification and reporting requirements applicable to projects designed to permanently sequester CO₂ by preventing its release from the subsurface. If at the time the application is filed adequate Federal and/or State requirements have not been finalized, the plan must include monitoring activities to detect releases of injected CO₂ from the subsurface, must provide for verification of any detected releases and must include a schedule for reporting any detected releases to the Commission or other Federal and/or State agencies requesting that information.

We decline to make this additional change because we deem it unnecessary. As noted above, D.07-01-039 unequivocally requires that an LSE develop a "reasonable and economically and technically feasible plan that will result in the permanent sequestration of CO₂ once the injection project is operational." (Emphasis added) If interested parties believe that federal and/or state monitoring rules do not ensure permanence, we are certain they will raise their concerns in response to a future LSE application.