Arizona, which currently has no gas storage facilities, took one step closer to the development of such facilities Wednesday night when members of the state’s House approved a bill that would loosen groundwater protections.

The bill (HB 2352) would authorize storage in underground salt formations and grant them exemptions from Arizona’s aquifer protection permit requirement.

If the bill is approved by the Senate and signed into law, the first company to take advantage of the exemptions would likely be Houston-based Multifuels LP. The developer needs the exemption to proceed with its plans for creating a large underground storage facility near Eloy, AZ, about 50 miles northwest of Tucson. Multifuels has proposed to inject wastewater brine as part of feasibility testing and the eventual preparation of an underground cavern that could store billions of cubic feet of gas. According to the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, state law prohibits brine injection because of the possible threat to groundwater supplies.

Earlier this year an Arizona legislative committee voted to recommend that Multifuel’s storage project be given an exemption from state requirements protecting groundwater (see Daily GPI, Feb. 23).

The bill would also offer the exemptions to other storage projects.

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