ccs

Subscribe to ccs

The California Carbon Capture and Storage Review Panel released its final recommendations last week after nine months of fact-finding and deliberations. The Panel was sponsored by the California Energy Commission, the California Public Utilities Commission, and the California Air Resources Board (“CARB”), with participation from the California Department of Conservation and the California State Water Board. The Panel was formed to review the statutory and regulatory barriers to the use of carbon capture and storage (“CCS”) as a strategy to combat climate change. CCS is a technology with potential to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from power plants and industrial sources on a large scale by capturing the emissions and sequestering them in geologic formations underground.

The Panel’s recommendations focus on:

  • ensuring that CCS can play a role in meeting California’s greenhouse gas emission (“GHG”) reduction requirements (e.g., the Panel recommends that CARB consider and integrate CCS into its GHG rules);
  • addressing regulatory and permitting barriers for CCS projects (e.g., the Panel recommends establishing a coordinated permitting system with the California Energy Commission as the lead agency);
  • addressing key legal issues and uncertainties (e.g., the Panel recommends that the legislature declare surface owners to be the owners of subsurface pore space that could be used for carbon dioxide storage); and
  • ensuring the safe, equitable, and cost-effective use of CCS in California (e.g., the Panel recommends that the legislature establish that any cost allocation mechanisms for CCS projects be spread as broadly as possible across all Californians).

The Panel was comprised of experts from industry, trade groups, academia, and environmental organizations. Stoel Rives’ Jerry Fish served on the Panel’s Technical Advisory Committee along with representatives from the relevant state agencies and other expert consultants. With assistance from other members of Stoel’s CCS team, he contributed white papers on carbon dioxide pipelines, pore space rights, and enhanced oil recovery issues and advised on the Panel on a variety of property, liability, and regulatory issues for CCS. For more information on CCS or the Panel’s work, please contact:

Read the Panel’s key findings and recommendations after the jump or download the full background report and final recommendations report from the California Climate Change Portal.Continue Reading Recommendations for Carbon Capture and Storage in California

An update from Sara Bergan and Sarah Johnson Phillips

Federal Requirements Under the Underground Injection Control (UIC) Program for Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Geologic Sequestration (GS) Wells See Pre-publication Rule

The rule finalizes minimum federal requirements under the Safe Drinking Water Act for underground injection of carbon dioxide (CO2) for GS purposes.

The Department of Energy is requesting proposals for regional sequestration technology training.  The funding is available to develop regional training that promotes the transfer of knowledge and technologies related to carbon capture and sequestration technologies. 

Up to $6.97 million in Recovery Act Funding as available for up to 7 individual awards.

Proposals must be submitted…