Louisiana on track for carbon well permitting by year-end: official

EnLink Midstream LLC

19/04/2023 17:06

By Liz Hampton
       April 19 (Reuters) - Louisiana likely will receive
permitting authority over wells designed to capture and store
greenhouse gases by the end of the year, U.S. Congressman Garret
Graves, who represents a southern section of the state, said on
Tuesday. 
    The state, which houses a large number of refineries and
other industrial facilities, has been vying for control over
so-called Class VI wells from the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA). Carbon injection wells have emerged as one of the
oil and gas industry's preferred ways to lower greenhouse gas
emissions. 
    Primacy, or permitting and enforcement authority, allows
states to speed up approvals for these wells and better ensure
investment dollars for massive carbon sequestration and storage
hubs flow to the state.
    Occidental Petroleum Corp  OXY.N  and Talos Energy  TALO.n 
have carbon capture projects proposed for Louisiana, while
midstream firm EnLink  ENLC.N  is eying various carbon dioxide
pipeline projects to connect emitters to storage sites. 
    "We're probably looking at final approval sometime in
December or January," Graves said at an event hosted by the
Bipartisan Policy Center. "If you look at the at the capacity of
the state of Louisiana, they have substantially more expertise
and capacity than the EPA does at this point."
    North Dakota and Wyoming are the only two states with
primacy and have been able to speed up the permitting of Class
VI or carbon-injectingwells to months instead of years.  
    "We do know the EPA has told us we should have the proposed
rule in the Federal Register before the end of May, which could
make that timeline happen," said a spokesperson for the
Louisiana Department of Natural Resources. 

 (Reporting by Liz Hampton in Denver)
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