Class VI Wells – A Crucial Component to Scaling Dedicated, Long Term Storage of CO2

The Carbon Capture Coalition has published a fact sheet on the importance of a robust federal Class VI well program. Carbon capture projects that seek to inject carbon dioxide safely and permanently into appropriate geologic formations are regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency’s Class VI rule, part of EPA’s Underground Injection Control Program. A strong federal Class VI program is essential to ensuring economywide deployment of carbon capture technologies in the timeframe required to meet midcentury climate goals.

In the three years since 45Q was revamped and expanded, nearly 40 carbon capture projects have been publicly announced. Of these, half have declared their intent to utilize a Class VI well for the sole purposes of permanent storage of captured CO₂. Additionally, two states have applied for and received primacy over Class VI wells, meaning they will hold primary enforcement responsibility of the Class VI federal standards. At least eight other states are either actively working on primacy applications or have expressed interest in preparing primacy applications.

EPA adopted the Class VI rule in 2011, and there are two active Class VI wells in the United States. While EPA takes steps to increase the capacity of the Class VI program to respond to the anticipated need for Class VI permitting, Congress must also ensure adequate resources for EPA to both permit Class VI wells and review Class VI primacy applications in a timely manner.

To read the Coalition’s Class VI fact sheet click here.

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The Carbon Capture Coalition is a nonpartisan collaboration of more than 80 businesses and organizations building federal policy support for economywide deployment of carbon capture, removal, transport, utilization, and storage. Our mission is to reduce carbon emissions to meet midcentury climate goals, foster domestic energy and industrial production, and support a high-wage jobs base through the adoption of carbon capture technologies. Convened by the Great Plains Institute, Coalition membership includes industry, energy, and technology companies; energy and industrial labor unions; and conservation, environmental, and energy policy organizations.