Injection and Geologic Sequestration of Carbon Dioxide: Federal Role and Issues for Congress

"For several decades, the federal government has funded efforts to explore the feasibility of mitigating the release of greenhouse gases (GHGs) while burning fossil fuels as a source of energy. Carbon capture and storage (CCS)—the process of capturing manmade carbon dioxide (CO2) at its source and storing it before its release into the atmosphere—has been proposed as a technological solution for mitigating emissions into the atmosphere while continuing to use fossil energy. Permanent underground carbon storage, known as geologic sequestration, is the long-term containment of a fluid (including gas or liquid CO2) in subsurface geologic formations. CO2 may be injected, and a portion incidentally stored, as part of enhanced oil recovery (EOR) operations that increase production from aging oil reservoirs.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) leads the federal government’s carbon storage research and development (R&D) as part of the agency’s fossil energy programs. The agency conducts CCS research and carries out public-private partnerships for testing and development of CO2 injection and storage projects. Congress has recently directed DOE to expand its R&D activities to support deployment and commercialization of CCS projects.

The Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), provides authorities for regulating underground injection of fluids and serves as the framework for regulation of injection of CO2 for geologic sequestration and EOR. The major purpose of the act’s Underground Injection Control (UIC) provisions is to prevent endangerment of underground sources of drinking water from injection activities. EPA has promulgated regulations and established minimum federal requirements for six classes of injection wells. In 2010, EPA promulgated regulations for the underground injection of CO2 for long-term storage and established UIC Class VI, a new class of wells solely for geologic sequestration of CO2. The well performance standards and other requirements established in the Class VI Rule are based on the distinctive features of CO2 injection compared to other types of injection. Two Class VI wells, both in Illinois, are currently permitted by EPA. EOR, including CO2-EOR, is conducted using Class II wells classified for disposal of fluids associated with oil and gas production. SDWA authorizes states to administer the federal UIC programs in lieu of EPA, known as primacy. For Class VI CO2 geologic sequestration wells, North Dakota and Wyoming have primacy under SDWA. For Class II wells, SDWA authorizes states to regulate these wells under their own state programs, and most oil- and gasproducing states have primacy for Class II wells. Currently in the United States, one geologic sequestration facility, the ADM facility in Illinois, has EPA Class VI permits and is actively injecting CO2 from an ethanol plant for geologic sequestration. North Dakota has issued two state Class VI permits for geologic sequestration..."
Injection and Geologic Sequestration of Caron Dioxide