Siri Hedreen of S&P Global writes about permits for captured carbon.
- Policymakers and the private sector have embraced carbon capture and sequestration (CCUS), but regulations have slowed down progress.
- Class VI wells, which are permitted to store captured CO2 from CCUS and are necessary for these projects to grow, must be approved by the EPA but the agency has only approved three to date.
- Federal regulators have begun to give certain states the authority to approve and regulate their own Class VI wells through a process called primacy.
- Primacy has yielded several beneficial results with North Dakota and Wyoming approving 11 wells and Louisiana planning to rapidly grow its well infrastructure.
“Even before Louisiana’s Class VI well primacy took effect in February, the Gulf Coast state had become a target for carbon capture development due to its oil and gas industry and porous geology. Recent state legislation on CO2 storage leasing and accident liability has also helped usher in investment and earn the EPA’s trust, said Colleen Jarrott, a New Orleans-based partner with Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP who represents carbon capture developers.”
Read the full article here.
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