Carbon capture, utilization and sequestration (CCUS) offers a known and readily available method to reduce the net emissions of carbon dioxide and meet ambitious climate goals.
The regulatory framework, as well as the multiple protections built into it, ensures that it is safe. However, as the number of requests for authorizations of CCUS projects increases, it is uncertain whether that very regulatory framework, and the agencies in charge of permitting and regulating the injection of carbon dioxide, will facilitate or inhibit our ability to meet those climate goals.
Upon rejoining the Paris Agreement on Jan. 20, 2021, the U.S. announced the climate goal of reaching net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions economy-wide by no later than 2050. The U.S. has already seen dramatic reductions in GHG emissions, due mostly to fuel switching from coal to natural gas in the power sector. Overall, EPA notes that GHG emissions (after accounting for sequestration from the land sector) dropped 22 percent from 2005 to 2020 and emissions from fossil fuel combustion dropped 25 percent in the same time frame. Despite this success, EIA predicts that the amount of electricity generated from solar and wind will appreciably rise between now and 2050, while also noting that the use of fossil fuels will also rise to meet an ever-increasing demand.
Generally, CCUS involves the capture of carbon dioxide from fuel combustion or industrial processes and its subsequent use as a resource to create valuable products or permanent storage deep underground in geological formations. Indeed, given that the use of fossil fuels may persist through 2050 and perhaps beyond, CCUS may be the only way to achieve net-zero by 2050. CCUS is an available technology that can easily assist the U.S. in meeting its climate goals.
EPA (or authorized states, once the federal program is delegated to the state) regulates the underground injection of carbon dioxide as part of the Underground Injection Control (UIC) Program. Wells used for the injection and geologic sequestration of carbon dioxide are classified Class VI wells. The UIC Program has multiple regulatory safeguards in the permitting, construction and operation of Class VI wells that serve to ensure the safe injection and sequestration of carbon dioxide.
However, these requirements also provide multiple opportunities for regulatory agencies to over-regulate or otherwise inhibit the permitting and operation of Class VI wells. Obviously, the agencies must first ensure compliance with the Class VI rules to ensure the carbon dioxide remains properly sequestered. Nevertheless, experience with the UIC Program suggests that chronic understaffing slows the review of applications and creates a backlog of applications to be reviewed, which in turn reduces the number of permits issued. Further, narrow interpretations of the rules tend to restrict the amount of fluids that can be injected. This may extend into the injection of carbon dioxide. For example, agencies have tended to calculate injection pressures in such a fashion as to lower them, which in turn reduces the rate of injection and the amount of fluids that may be injected. Injecting vast amounts of carbon dioxide will be necessary to meet the net-zero goal, and artificially low injection pressures will impact our ability to meet that goal.
In short, CCUS can and should be an important part of the climate effort. The history of the UIC Program establishes that underground injection pursuant to the program is safe and the Class VI regulations continue those safeguards for the injection of carbon dioxide. However, permits need to be issued, wells constructed and injection pressures properly set so the net-zero goal can be met by 2050.
John B. King is a partner with Breazeale, Sachse & Wilson LLP in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. His practice relates mainly to environmental regulatory permitting and compliance. Prior to joining the firm in 2003, he served as chief attorney for enforcement with the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality.
For more information, visit www.bswenviroblog.com, or contact John B. King at jbk@bswllp.com or (225) 381-8014.
