![]() “The subsidies are impossible to ignore, even if we wanted to continue business as usual,” Team PA’s Drickey said. It’s also competing for federal dollars set aside for regional hydrogen hubs, a Department of Energy effort to decarbonize energy production through hydrogen using CCS technology. In April, Pennsylvania’s environment department told the EPA that it wanted its slice of a $50 million grant for exploring a CCS permit program. Pennsylvania, the birthplace of America’s oil industry, is primed for Class VI primacy, Fry said. States hope they could “help that queue move faster” by doing it themselves, Grey said. North Dakota, in contrast, has approved five since its own program started in 2018. ![]() The agency has permitted six Class VI wells over the last 12 years-only two of which opened-and it has a queue of more than 80 applications pending. ![]() The EPA’s Underground Injection Control program, the main permitting scheme for CCS projects nationwide, is moving slowly as it navigates highly technical review processes, resource shortages, and a general lack of experience permitting Class VI wells, said Sarah Grey, partner at Arnold & Porter. “The US can’t do it without Pennsylvania, and Pennsylvania can’t really do it without carbon dioxide capture and sequestration,” said Max Drickey, energy policy fellow at nonprofit Team PA. Still, for states like Pennsylvania, which has a glut of heavy industry to steward into the future, CCS technology represents a chance to make quick progress on climate goals without destabilizing the economy. Two Texas congressmen in a letter Monday urged the EPA to reject their state’s bid for carbon capture primacy, saying that regulators can’t be trusted to uphold environmental justice standards. More, like Montana and Nebraska, are propping up the legislative framework that could serve future projects and programs for carbon capture and sequestration, or CCS, according to data from law firm Arnold & Porter.Ĭompetition among states to attract industry developers has boosted the push for state primacy, carbon capture backers say.Ĭompanies investing in CCS facilities-such as ExxonMobil Corp., Occidental Petroleum Corp., and Chevron Corp.-tend to flock to states that run their own programs, said Matt Fry, senior policy manager at the Great Plains Institute, a nonprofit group focused on the energy industry.īut some warn that state agencies can’t be trusted to permit their own projects. Other states, including Pennsylvania and Colorado, have recently shown interest in taking the reins on carbon capture projects, either by passing legislation or notifying the agency of their intent. Texas, Louisiana, Arizona, and West Virginia are in the EPA’s application or pre-application process. The new interest is driven by tax credits that were expanded and extended under the 2022 climate bill, at least $12 billion in grants from the 2021 infrastructure package, and the race to get ahead of possible new EPA rules that tout carbon capture as a way to drastically cut power plant emissions.Īt least eight states have called on the Environmental Protection Agency to grant them authority, or “primacy,” over Class VI wells, a classification of facilities that inject and store carbon dioxide underground instead of releasing it into the air.Ĭurrently, the EPA is responsible for permitting Class VI carbon capture facilities in every state except North Dakota and Wyoming, which were granted primacy in 20, respectively. States are seeking to speed up approval of carbon capture and sequestration projects by taking the role from the federal government, a bid to make their states more attractive to industry developers.
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