EPA moves to let Alaska permit carbon storage wells, leaving out a pore-space provision

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposed Wednesday to let Alaska decide who can pump carbon dioxide deep underground for long-term storage.

Under the proposal, companies would apply to the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission instead of EPA for permits for Class VI wells, the kind used to inject carbon dioxide for storage. EPA said the state's program meets every federal requirement.

Prudhoe Bay gas is roughly 15% carbon dioxide, and the proposed Alaska LNG export project would have to scrub nearly all of it out. That carbon dioxide would need to be stored or used. ASRC Energy Services, the energy subsidiary of Arctic Slope Regional Corp., has $13.9 million in federal money to plan a North Slope carbon storage hub.

EPA's proposal leaves two pieces of Alaska's 2024 carbon storage law out of the federally approved program, without saying why. One lets the commission put the pore space of landowners who don't consent into a storage project, after a public hearing. The other says carbon dioxide stored under a permit is not a pollutant and is not a nuisance.

Arctic Slope Regional Corp., which holds title to about 5 million acres of surface and subsurface land on the North Slope, supported the state taking over permitting. But David Knutson, its senior director of lands and natural resources, urged "a cautious, consent-first approach" to the pore-space provision in a May 14 letter, warning that nonconsenting owners "may bear long-term risk without a guaranteed revenue stream."

Six groups, including Cook Inletkeeper and the Center for Biological Diversity, urged the state in a joint filing not to seek the authority until it could show it could run the program. They said funding is inadequate and that the state's fee-shifting law discourages citizen lawsuits, according to EPA's summary. The commission answered that it "operates on an industry funded model which has shown to be successful and sustainable."

The commission estimates the program would cost $483,670 a year, paid by industry fees and an EPA grant. Alaska has no active Class VI wells.

EPA would keep permitting wells in Indian country and in areas of exclusive federal jurisdiction, and it would oversee the state program with quarterly and annual reports.

The proposal publishes in the Federal Register on Thursday. Comments are due Dec. 13, and EPA will hold one virtual public hearing no sooner than 30 days after publication.