Dive Brief:
- The Environmental Protection Agency has issued draft permits to Occidental Petroleum subsidiary Oxy Low Carbon Ventures for three wells aiming to inject carbon dioxide deep underground in Ector County, Texas.
- The trio of Class VI permits — which are focused on regulating the geologic sequestration of carbon dioxide — are the first of their kind to be issued to the Lone Star State, according to the EPA’s Sept. 4 press release. Obtaining this level of a permit is a rigorous, multi-year process tailored to ensure that underground sources of drinking water are not contaminated.
- The EPA said the three proposed wells, located at Occidental’s Stratos direct air capture plant in Ector County, will be able to store approximately 722,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually at a depth of around 4,400 feet.
Dive Insight:
The agency said it had evaluated the project site, in collaboration with the Department of Energy’s National Laboratories, to ensure the wells remained “protective of the environment” and would not contaminate underground water or trigger seismic activity. The site is about 14 miles away from the city of Odessa.
Oxy Low Carbon Ventures was also required to provide a detailed analysis of the site to guarantee that the construction and operation of the wells, as well as any other permitted activities, met the guidelines of the Safe Drinking Water Act. The SDWA was passed in 1974 and establishes requirements to safeguard underground drinking water sources from contamination.
The Stratos facility that hosts these proposed wells is designed to capture up to 500,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year once operational by mid-2025.
Last November, the industrial-scale direct air capture plant pulled in $550 million in funding from BlackRock, the nation’s largest asset management firm. At the time, Occidental said the facility was about 30% complete.
Occidental, one of the largest U.S. oil and gas producers, has already reached deals with Amazon, Houston professional sports teams the Astros and Texans, and TD Bank to purchase carbon removal credits from the facility.
The EPA said the public comment period on the draft permits would be open until Oct. 7 and that it would host a public hearing on the permits on Oct. 3.
