(Reuters) – Texas oil, gas and industrial groups on Tuesday asked the new EPA administrator to speed up Texas’ request to approve carbon capture and storage projects instead of the federal government, to help boost private investment and unleash capture technology.
The six groups, including the Texas Oil and Gas Association and the Texas Association of Manufacturers, asked Environmental Protection Agency chief Lee Zeldin to “expedite and approve” the state’s application for “primacy.” This would enable Texas to capture and store carbon underground instead of the EPA, which has a backlog of such projects to approve.
By reducing this backlog and allowing states to approve such projects, the EPA “can give industry the clear and predictable framework to do what it does best: invest in America,” they said.
Texas has 43 projects under review – one-third of all U.S. applications – and is seeking to become the fifth state to get EPA approval to oversee its own CO2 injection permitting.
The groups said carbon capture and storage projects could contribute up to $1.8 billion to the Texas economy and meet the needs of U.S. liquefied natural gas export facilities, many of whose foreign customers demand lower-carbon energy.
Local landowners and environmental groups have raised concerns over the risk that CO2 storage underground could exacerbate earthquakes and well blowouts already happening in Texas as it struggles to manage wastewater disposal.
The Biden administration’s 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, landmark climate-change legislation, contains billions of dollars of subsidies, including a lucrative $85 per metric ton tax credit for storing CO2 in geological formations.
While President Donald Trump has vowed to gut the IRA, energy experts say such subsidies will likely survive due to strong support from Republican states and lawmakers.
Zeldin indicated he supports the technology during his confirmation hearing.
Reporting by Valerie Volcovici Editing by Bernadette Baum
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