EPA Releases Proposed Carbon Sequestration Regulations
By James Holtkamp
July 17, 2008

On July 15, EPA Administrator Steven Johnson signed a proposed rulemaking package, which would regulate geologic sequestration of carbon dioxide under the Underground Injection Control (“UIC”) Program of the Safe Drinking Water Act. The proposed rules would create a new category of UIC well (Class VI) designed specifically for injection of CO₂ into geologic formations.

The proposal includes detailed technical requirements for characterizing the scope and suitability of the target formations, assuring that the injection zone will not affect any actual or potential source of drinking water, monitoring and reporting on well conditions during and after the sequestration is complete, and requiring as part of well permit applications plans for 50 years of post-injection monitoring.

Financial assurance requirements are not spelled out in detail in the proposed rulemaking, as EPA has elected to promulgate those requirements in a separate rulemaking. However, EPA makes it clear in the proposed rulemaking that assuring the availability of funds over the long term will be a critical element in approval and oversight of CO₂ sequestration.

The proposed rules do not directly address air quality issues; however, the Class VI CO₂ injection well requirements are designed to assure that there are no significant releases of CO₂ or contaminants in the CO₂ into the ambient atmosphere. In addition, although EPA declined to classify CO₂ as a hazardous waste, the proposed rules place on the permittee the burden of assuring that the CO₂ does not contain impurities that would trigger RCRA hazardous waste management requirements. In addition, the proposed rule points out that it does not override applicable provisions of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (“CERCLA”), to the extent that there are either hazardous substances that are released from the sequestration process or that there is damage to aquifers or other resources triggering a claim under the Natural Resource Damage provisions of CERCLA.

The 120-day comment period on the proposed rules will begin on the date of publication in the Federal Register. Click here to view the pre-publication draft at EPA's website. The EPA’s Fact Sheet on the proposal is also available. Click here to view the Fact Sheet.