Decarbon Debrief: Louisiana One Step Closer to Gaining Primacy for Carbon Sequestration Wells
More states need primacy to accelerate projects that are waiting on approvals.
🚨 The Lead
The top story of the week.
On April 28th, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) opened public comment on a proposal to grant Louisiana’s request for primacy. In this contex, primacy allows the state of Louisiana the primary responsibility to regulate the Class VI wells. Louisiana’s Department of Natural Resources administer the Underground Injection Control (UIC). The UIC regulates the injection of carbon dioxide (CO2) into deep rock formations, thousands of feet underground.
Louisiana would be third state to gain primacy. North Dakota and Wyoming are the other two states that have the primary responsibility for Class VI wells. Arizona, Texas, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania have applied for primacy, too.
As of April, there are 69 current Class VI well permits based on the EPA data. Nearly 83% of the pending permits are in California, Louisiana, and Illinois. Illinois has the only active Class VI well permitted by the EPA.
Source: Decarbonfuse research
Todd’s Take:
The regulatory process is often cited as a bottleneck to moving carbon capture and carbon removal projects forward. The process can take anywhere from 18 to 36 months depending on various factors. These are complex projects. It is a difficult process that requires a significant amount of coordination between companies, service providers, and regulators.
Several states already have regulatory authority for the UIC program, so it is likely that these states move forward to gain approval for Class VI wells in the coming years. But that’s too long.
If the government wants to see more CCUS, BeCCS, and DAC projects deployed, then states where UIC programs are already operating must gain primacy for Class VI wells. Move swiftly to with the help of state and local regulators to get states that have applied for primacy the authority to regulate this critical piece of infrastructure.
✨ This Week in Decarbonization
Highlights from the week’s most popular stories in industrial decarbonization.
💸 Braya Renewable Fuels receives a $300 Million investment from Energy Capital Partners
🏭 HIF Global receives environmental permit authorizing construction and operation at first U.S. eFuels facility
🤝 NextGen Buys Carbon Dioxide Removal Credits from Summit Carbon Solutions in Landmark Deal
♻ Cyclic Materials Raises $27m Series A to Scale Advanced Critical Metals Recycling Technology
🚀 IperionX Plans to Build the World’s Largest 100% Recycled Titanium Metal Powder Facility By 2025
💸 Energy Dome Closes 40 Million Euro Series B Financing Round
🌎 ExxonMobil, Cyclyx, Sealed Air, and Ahold Delhaize USA demo advanced recycling for plastic waste
💚 Duke Energy details clean energy transition in Impact Report
☁️ Capture This CO2
A single carbon capture or hydrogen project in industrial decarbonization.
Permian DAC 1 - the world's largest planned DAC facility
🏭 Operator: 1PointFive, Oxy
📌 Location: Permian
⛽ Industry: Direct Air Capture
🦺 Project Status: Early Construction
🌱 Project Type: Commercial
♻️ CO2 Capture Amount: 1 million tons per year
The Permian DAC 1 facility is located in Ector County Texas in West Texas. 1PointFive is developing the world’s largest facility along with Carbon Engineering and Worley. The project has already hit minor delays to due to supply chain availability; however, the facility expects to be operational by 2025. The captured CO2 will be injected into enhanced oil recovery projects to produce what Oxy is calling “net zero oil”.
🌍 Elsewhere
Highlights from research, data, or media partners covering the Energy Transition.
Last month, the Department of Energy’s DAC hub funding applications were due. The U.S. government plans to back four hubs that include three Climework hubs and two Occidental-led hubs. This week Climeworks announced plans to expand in North America, likely with an oil & gas company. Even with difficult economics, DAC hubs are gaining momentum through private and public partnerships that will rely on the government funding to kick start an industry.
Climeworks Explains DAC Technology
That's it for this week. If you'd like to dive into the data a little more with me, hit reply.