Happy Monday and welcome back to another week of ESC News Blog!
Did anyone
happen to read The Houston Chronicle on November 4, 2023, their article titled,
“Applications to capture carbon soaring in 2023 – Delays in getting permits
approved upset lawmakers”? In the
article, it goes on to speak about getting permits approved from the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) for carbon capture projects is slow like molasses and
there has been an influx of 100 carbon dioxide (CO2) well applications already
this year alone. The EPA and CO2 permitting
is in its infancy, so it will take time to learn the process for all those
involved. The EPA only had seven employees in this section,
but now is trying to add people so they have 34, and it takes time to train
people in the complexities of these kinds of projects especially with all which
is at stake like CO2 can contaminate drinking water, to make sure it cannot me
re-released into the air, and it won’t meddle with any geologic fault lines. There have been problems with companies’
applications and with it being a new process it takes time for the EPA to
review and companies to file complete and accurate paperwork. The number of projects awaiting review are about
170 carbon capture wells. The Democrats
and Republicans in Washington have been increasing their pressure on the EPA to
get things rolling along while the environmentalists still are putting pressure
to stop the process. Texas alone has 20 projects and Louisiana has
even more, however both states have filed for authority to approve their own projects. The EPA still hasn’t approved any new states
to approve their own carbon capture projects like the authority they have given
Wyoming and North Dakota. Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality has
three carbon capture projects on track to be approved and they are expecting by
May 2024 the some of the projects will break ground. As more ducks get in a row carbon capture projects
will start to move along to help us reduce our greenhouse gases. If you would like to read more of The
Houston Chronicle’s article, please click the link: Carbon capture applications surge, straining EPA resources (houstonchronicle.com).
If you would like
to learn something about CO2 Wells from the EPA, please click the link: Class VI - Wells used for Geologic Sequestration of Carbon Dioxide | US EPA.
If you would
like help in looking into how to transport your product efficiently, safely, and
with less of a carbon footprint or just find out what is underneath your feet
to help with your emission reduction goals, contact us via email in the blog
and check out our ESC's website!
We hope you have a wonderful evening and a great rest of
your week! Don’t forget to vote
tomorrow! It’s Election Day!
**Disclaimer: You may be charged a fee to read The
Houston Chronicle’s article. **