Primacy approved for Louisiana wells
Louisiana is approved by the EPA as the primary authority in the permitting and regulating of its Class VI wells. Application was filed in September 2021, and was approved the last week of December 2023. Primacy could be the solution to certain EPA backlogs. “Louisiana is now the only state in the country where all injection well classes are administered through a single agency, the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources Injection and Mining Division,” said Jim Rock, Lake Area Industry Alliance executive director. “The consolidation of all well classes into one UIC Program allows for the seamless cross-collaboration of technical resources and experience across various injection well projects.” Class VI wells will be used to inject carbon dioxide into deep, confined geologic formations, according to Rock. One carbon capture and sequestration project under consideration is Gulf Coast Sequestration in the Geddings, North Vinton area. The DOE has hosted meetings to answer the public’s questions about the project.
Rock said that according to a Department Of Energy Notification of Selection, the project can proceed with work leading to an award from the DOE. In 2023, DOE announced up to $1.2 billion to advance two-commercial-scale direct air capture facilities in Texas and Louisiana, the first of this scale in the U.S. Wyoming and North Dakota already have state primacy over Class VI wells. Louisiana is the first state to get it under the Biden administration. Carbon capture, use and sequestration projects are being considered as a way to reduce carbon emissions and as a viable investment in Southwest Louisiana because of its geology and pipeline infrastructure. As EPA expands staff expertise to process permits at the federal level, state primacy authority can play a complementary role to ensure project developers are not stuck waiting for permit approvals before continuing to develop a project, according to a Bipartisan Policy Center, a not-for-profit that ensures policy markers work across party lines for solutions…