By Mike Tony, Charleston Gazette-Mail
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Dismissing concerns about West Virginia’s ability to protect against environmental health risks from certain wells essential for storing captured carbon dioxide emissions underground, federal regulators have approved the state’s request for primary enforcement authority over them.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has approved the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection’s application for primary enforcement authority, or primacy, over wells used to inject carbon dioxide into deep rock formations, known as Class VI wells. Class VI is one of six classes of injection wells regulated under the EPA’s Underground Injection Control program that regulates the injection of fluids like water, wastewater, brines from gas and oil production, and carbon dioxide into the subsurface for storage or disposal.
The approval is just the fourth the EPA has issued to a state for primacy over Class VI wells, after North Dakota, Wyoming and Louisiana.
The EPA gave its green light for West Virginia primacy Thursday despite heavy opposition from community and environmental advocates who have argued the DEP lacks the staffing and track record to take on the responsibility of primacy.
