Business groups are reacting positively to the recent federal Environmental Protection Agency announcement that the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR) will be the lead agency in the state for approving carbon-capture projects.
The EPA made the announcement on Dec. 28 to give the DNR what’s called “primacy” over Class VI injection wells, which are used to store carbon dioxide for long durations as a means to reduce greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Louisiana is the third state to be granted this authority, following in the footsteps of Wyoming and North Dakota, according to the Carbon Capture Coalition, a nonprofit group of companies, unions and conservation organizations.
“The decision to grant Louisiana primacy is a monumental step in advancing our state’s energy future,” Will Green, the president and CEO of the Louisiana Association of Business & Industry (LABI), said in a prepared statement. “Louisiana will be able to usher in a new era of technology and innovation while safeguarding our industrial, manufacturing and energy industries.”
The EPA decision reinforces Louisiana’s current role as a leader in carbon capture and sequestration technology, according to Green.
“Obtaining primacy will enable a more efficient and streamlined permitting process as we aim to meet the demands of global energy markets while generating billions of dollars in future investment and expanding employment opportunities across the state,” he said.
The permanent injection of carbon dioxide into geological formations deep into the earth is a well-understood process, with extremely rigorous protocols that are known worldwide, according to the Carbon Capture Coalition. But some environmental groups are not convinced that the technology is all that reliable.
“Our concerns with carbon capture and storage in Louisiana are that we don't feel the state agency, the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources, has the resources – staff-wise or computer-wise – to handle a whole new permitting process that is very technical and scientific in basis," Darryl Malek-Wiley, a spokesman for the Delta Chapter of the Sierra Club told the Louisiana Record.
Louisiana has tens of thousands of abandoned wells that have yet to be dealt with by the DNR, according to Malek-Wiley, and the agency has limited personnel to inspect pipelines, which are key to getting carbon dioxide to sequestration areas.
“If it’s such a good deal, why aren’t we installing it on plants already in Louisiana emitting carbon,” he asked, noting that all of the carbon-capture projects proposed for the state involve new facilities.
The Sierra Club sees the carbon-capture technology as unproven, according to Malek-Wiley, who said that such facilities in operation in Norway and Australia have not met their carbon-capture goals or have seen the greenhouse gas acting in unpredicted ways.
“We feel there are serious environmental impacts at all three stages – capture, transport and injection,” he said.
Mike Moncla, president of the Louisiana Oil & Gas Association, said both the DNR and the state Office of Conservation are well equipped to oversee a permitting process that will meet or exceed federal standards.
“The Office of Conservation is uniquely qualified to implement this process, with its extensive knowledge of the state’s geology and its multiple decades of experience working safely with CO2 injection wells and facilities,” Moncla said in a prepared statement.
Currently, the EPA has 172 individual Class VI well applications under review.