Carbon Capture Permit Backlog Threatens Climate Progress
“America’s energy economy is at a reckoning point and we must not allow the vast domestic resources, nor the investments in new clean energy technologies, to be squandered.”
Carbon Capture Permit Backlog Threatens Climate Progress
By Rich Powell
March 21, 2022
America’s energy economy is at a reckoning point and we must not allow the vast domestic resources, nor the investments in new clean energy technologies, to be squandered.
The 2022 energy tax incentives , along with the bipartisan infrastructure law of 2021 and increasing private sector investments in innovation have the potential to catapult U.S. clean energy projects and firmly establish American global leadership in clean energy deployment.
It’s truly an unprecedented moment and one that the United States can’t afford to let pass by. But all of this potential will be little more than talking points if projects cannot be permitted in a timely manner. Nowhere is this more apparent than in carbon capture and sequestration (CCS), which the International Energy Agency has said will be “necessary to meet national, regional and even corporate net zero goals.”
On the surface, moving more CCS projects has the support of both parties in Congress and the White House. President Biden’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael Regan told energy executives at the CERAWeek conference in Houston that “carbon capture and storage is a priority for this Administration.”
That was music to the ears of many climate advocates, like myself, as well as the many energy project developers who are awaiting approvals for their CCS projects.
More than 70 carbon storage project applications are currently stuck in the approval queue at the EPA. These projects have the potential to prevent millions of tons of CO2 from entering the atmosphere each year.
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Yet, despite some of these applications dating back to 2020, not a single CO2 injection site – called a Class VI well – has received approval from the EPA, even since the passage of the IRA.
Administrator Regan also said, “those states that have or want primacy take the lead and we support that once they go through a rigorous process. And states that don’t, we partner with those states to provide adequate support to see these projects through.”
States have shown decades of success in regulating multiple forms of injection wells within their borders, and the EPA itself has encouraged states to apply for primacy. Often these state-specific regulatory environments are more stringent than EPA’s and allow for more efficient permitting, which is a win-win. For example, states already have in-house experts in the local geology on staff. EPA often needs to contract for that expertise for reviews from DC or their regional offices – clearly not an efficient use of resources or expertise.
To date, the Biden administration has not granted primacy to any states for Class VI wells.
Wyoming and North Dakota alone have Class VI primacy – both granted under the previous administrations – but several others are undergoing the application process or have expressed interest. Louisiana, Texas, Arizona, and West Virginia are all in the application process. In the CERAWeek remarks, Regan said, they are working with Louisiana to safely deploy the technology in a timely fashion.
Louisiana’s application has been pending since April 2021, despite funding in the 2021 infrastructure law specifically allocated to expedite this process. We estimate projects in the queue could capture up to 6 million tonnes per year of carbon dioxide in Louisiana alone!
The advantages of primacy are readily apparent in North Dakota. Whereas the EPA has taken an average of three years to permit Class VI wells, it took North Dakota only five months. The urgency to address climate change essentially requires state primacy for Class VI wells.
Bipartisan frustration with delays is starting to boil. Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards (D-LA) sent a letter to the EPA in January requesting information on why the state has not received feedback on its application, emphasizing, “We are now seeing concepts begin to turn into investment decisions - but a recurring question is if and when Louisiana will receive primacy.” Gov. Edwards conveyed that his staff wasn’t even sure who they should be speaking with at EPA about their application.
Meanwhile, business leaders in Louisiana sent another letter to EPA Administrator Michael Regan this month, imploring the EPA to review and approve the state’s primacy application, and five other states wrote to EPA that they “are increasingly concerned about uncertain permitting timelines.”
Not only are Democrats and Republicans in agreement, but the environmental community, energy industry and others are all aligned on advancing carbon capture technology in the United States.
If we want to reduce emissions we must deploy more clean energy technologies at scale in the United States. When it comes to CCS, the financial interest, bipartisan support and government incentives are all there to do so. We just need the EPA to act with the urgency we all agree is necessary.
Rich Powell is the CEO of ClearPath and ClearPath Action, the DC-based organizations advancing policies that accelerate breakthrough innovations to reduce emissions in the energy and industrial sectors.