§ 15-6-158 — Class Fifteen Property -- Description -- Taxable Percentage

15-6-158 . Class fifteen property -- description -- taxable percentage. (1) Class fifteen property includes:
(a) carbon dioxide pipelines certified by the department of environmental quality under 15-24-3112 for the transportation of carbon dioxide for the purposes of sequestration or for use in closed-loop enhanced oil recovery operations;
(b) qualified liquid pipelines certified by the department of environmental quality under 15-24-3112 ;
(c) carbon sequestration equipment;
(d) equipment used in closed-loop enhanced oil recovery operations; and
(e) all property of pipelines, including pumping and compression equipment, carrying products other than carbon dioxide, that originate at facilities specified in 15-6-157 (1), with at least 90% of the product carried by the pipeline originating at facilities specified in 15-6-157 (1) and terminating at an existing pipeline or facility.
(2) For the purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:
(a) "Carbon dioxide pipeline" means a pipeline that transports carbon dioxide from a plant or facility that produces or captures carbon dioxide to a carbon sequestration point, including a closed-loop enhanced oil recovery operation.
(b) "Carbon sequestration" means the long-term storage of carbon dioxide from a carbon dioxide pipeline in geologic formations, including but not limited to deep saline formations, basalt or oil shale formations, depleted oil and gas reservoirs, unminable coal beds, and closed-loop enhanced oil recovery operations.
(c) "Carbon sequestration equipment" means the equipment used for carbon sequestration, including equipment used to inject carbon dioxide at the carbon sequestration point and equipment used to retain carbon dioxide in the sequestration location.
(d) "Carbon sequestration point" means the location where the carbon dioxide is to be confined for sequestration.
(e) "Closed-loop enhanced oil recovery operation" means all oil production equipment, as described in 15-6-138 (1)(c), owned by an entity that owns or operates an operation that, after construction, installation, and testing has been completed and the full enhanced oil recovery process has been commenced, injects carbon dioxide to increase the amount of crude oil that can be recovered from a well and retains as much of the injected carbon dioxide as practicable, but not less than 85% of the carbon dioxide injected each year absent catastrophic or unforeseen occurrences.
(f) "Liquid pipeline" means a pipeline that is dedicated to using 90% of its pipeline capacity for transporting fuel or methane gas from a coal gasification facility, biodiesel production facility, biogas production facility, ethanol production facility, renewable diesel production facility, or sustainable aviation fuel production facility.
(g) "Plant or facility that produces or captures carbon dioxide" means a facility that produces a flow of carbon dioxide that can be sequestered or used in a closed-loop enhanced oil recovery operation. This does not include wells from which the primary product is carbon dioxide.
(3) Class fifteen property does not include a carbon dioxide pipeline, liquid pipeline, or closed-loop enhanced oil recovery operation for which, during construction, the standard prevailing wages for heavy construction, as provided in 18-2-414 , were not paid during the construction phase.
(4) (a) Except as provided in subsection (4)(b), class fifteen property is taxed at 3% of its market value.
(b) Carbon sequestration equipment placed in service after January 1, 2014, that is certified as provided in subsection (5) and that has a current granted tax abatement under 15-24-3111 is taxed at 1.5% of its reduced market value during the qualifying period provided for in 15-24-3111 (7).
(5) (a) Requests for certification must be made on forms available from the department of revenue. Certification may not be granted unless the applicant is in substantial compliance with all applicable rules, laws, orders, or permit conditions. Certification remains in effect only as long as substantial compliance continues.
(b) The board of oil and gas conservation shall promulgate rules specifying procedures, including timeframes for certification application, and definitions necessary to identify carbon sequestration equipment for certification and compliance. The department of revenue shall promulgate rules pertaining to the valuation of carbon sequestration equipment. The board of oil and gas conservation shall identify and track compliance in the use of carbon sequestration equipment and report continuous acts or patterns of noncompliance at a facility to the department of revenue. Casual or isolated incidents of noncompliance at a facility do not affect certification.
(c) A person may appeal the certification, classification, and valuation of the property to the Montana tax appeal board. Appeals on the property certification must name the board of oil and gas conservation as the respondent, and appeals on the classification or valuation of the equipment must name the department of revenue as the respondent.

Legislative History

En. Sec. 7, Ch. 2, Sp. L. May 2007; amd. Sec. 7, Ch. 277, L. 2009; amd. Sec. 2, Ch. 407, L. 2015; amd. Sec. 25, Ch. 142, L. 2021; amd. Sec. 2, Ch. 692, L. 2023.