The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) have signed an agreement that allows Texas to permit carbon storage wells for carbon dioxide.
A memorandum of agreement outlines the state’s plans for administering programmes related to carbon storage wells, known as Class VI wells.
The signing is a required step in the RRC’s application to be granted authority to permit Class VI wells in Texas.
Regional Administrator Scott Mason said the RRC has demonstrated its ability to protect Texas’s drinking water while overseeing drilling and injection activity.
The Safe Drinking Water Act sets standards for underground drinking water. The RRC is seeking authority to permit and enforce Class VI carbon storage wells, building on its existing EPA-approved oversight of other injection wells.
Class VI injection wells store CO2 underground that has been captured from an emissions source or the atmosphere. Class VI injection wells deposit and store material deep beneath the earth in rock formations.
The formations must be tested and evaluated to ensure that geologic formations are suitable for the safe containment of CO2 for long-term storage.
It has been warned that the industry could start to lose merchant CO2 sources to carbon capture and sequestration projects and Class VI wells that are taking advantage of the country’s 45Q tax credit, which pays out $85/tonne for sequestered CO2.
