Federal regulators have released new information on how they’ll take input on a significant responsibility they’ve proposed delegating to the state of West Virginia.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has scheduled a public hearing on the proposal to approve West Virginia’s request for primary enforcement authority, or primacy, over wells essential for capturing carbon dioxide emissions and storing them underground.
The EPA is also taking written comments on the proposal through Dec. 30. According to on Nov. 27, the hearing will be held Dec. 30 at the Charleston Marriott Town Center.
The proposal would allow the DEP to issue permits for wells used to inject carbon dioxide into deep rock formations, known as Class VI wells. Class VI is one of six classes of injection wells regulated under the EPA’s Underground Injection Control program that regulates the injection of fluids like water, wastewater, brines from gas and oil production, and carbon dioxide into the subsurface for storage or disposal.
Community and environmental advocates have spoken out against the potential for the EPA to grant West Virginia Class VI primacy, arguing the state DEP lacks the funding or staffing to take on the responsibility of primacy.
West Virginia is the fourth state to request primacy for Class VI wells, after North Dakota, Wyoming and Louisiana.
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan announces a rule proposal for emissions at the University of Maryland on May 11, 2023.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency video screenshot / AP file photo
Subject to public comment, the EPA is proposing to approve West Virginia’s application, having preliminarily determined the application meets all requirements.
Class VI wells key in carbon capture projects eyed for W.Va.
West Virginia leaders have invested heavily in projects expected to rely on Class VI wells.
In October 2023, the Department of Energy selected a planned Appalachian regional hub for hydrogen production, storage and delivery to receive up to $925 million. The Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub, known as ARCH2, got $30 million of that potential $925 million in funding in August.
ARCH2 is slated to develop a network of hydrogen-based energy and product manufacturing expected to span parts of West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
The hub will draw from the region’s natural gas to produce the hydrogen and is expected to use carbon capture technology, which has been largely cost-prohibitive and is unproven at commercial scale. Those project aspects have drawn criticism the enterprise could be a boondoggle that locks the region into potentially expanded fossil fuel infrastructure, drives up energy prices and fails to yield job growth.
The program’s supporters predict the proposed hydrogen network will help lower emissions from hard-to-decarbonize industrial sectors spur significant private-sector investment and support thousands of jobs in West Virginia.
But the potential for a regional carbon dioxide pipeline buildout has raised concerns due to risks of induced seismicity and carbon dioxide leakage during storage that may contaminate groundwater.
ARCH2 has said the DEP attaining Class VI primacy would ease the permitting process and could create new prospects for carbon sequestration.
