This memo from Arnold & Porter discusses an interesting developing in carbon capture and sequestration (CCS). The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) launched a new website with updates on Class VI permit applications that have been filed with EPA for CCS projects. I blogged about this permitting early in the fall. According to the memo:
“EPA’s general timeline estimates an approximately 25-month total process from application to final permit, divided into five phases:
- 30-day completeness review
- 18-month technical review
- 60-day preparation of draft permit
- 30 to 45-day public comment period
- 90-day preparation of final permit
Once the final permit is issued, storage operators may begin construction, but still must conduct additional testing and obtain a separate authorization from EPA before injection may commence.
EPA indicates that it expects to finalize the permits for the Wabash Carbon Services project in Indiana before the end of this year, which would become the first Class VI permits issued by EPA since 2015. The agency also expects to issue final permits for 13 other projects by the end of 2024, and to have issued final permits for all 44 projects with complete applications by Q3 2025.”
If your company is considering – or already planning on – using CCS or emissions credits resulting from commercial CCS projects, EPA’s new website will be important. It will help you understand the permitting process (which is EPA-led in most states, rather than state-led like most environmental regulatory programs), its timing and status of project authorizations.
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