Texas Takes Over Permitting for Carbon Storage Projects
Article 0 Comments The Texas Railroad Commission spent two years working to secure the authority to issue the permits energy companies need to inject and store carbon dioxide underground, a power previously held by the federal government. Last November, the Environmental Protection Agency approved that request, a development experts said will make it easier for energy companies to apply for such permits, called Class VI. Both Democratic and Republican presidential administrations have approved generous tax incentives to energy companies to encourage carbon capture. While the effectiveness of the practice and benefits to the environment have been debated for years, the oil and gas industry has embraced it as a climate-friendly solution to pollution driven by industrial-scale fossil fuel production. But proponents of carbon capture technology argued that the federal government took too long to approve permits. The transfer of permitting to Texas isn’t likely to mean a rush of new projects, experts said, mainly because there hasn’t been a recent significant expansion of government incentives for direct air capture projects that trap carbon dioxide emissions, incinerate them and inject them deep underground. Here’s what to know about Class VI permits in Texas: What are Class VI permits? Class VI authorizes...
