Pa. Legislature Authorizes Carbon Sequestration Regulation

The Pennsylvania Legislature has approved a bill establishing a framework for regulating the underground storage of carbon dioxide, seen by some as critical to decarbonization efforts to slow climate change.

The state House of Representatives approved S.B. 831 on July 11, with an amendment adding additional environmental, justice, and landowner protections, and sent it to Gov. Josh Shapiro. The Senate approved the bill in April.

The legislation outlines ownership of underground “pore space,” spells out rights and liabilities of property owners and operators, and authorizes the state Department of Environmental Protection to develop and enforce regulations.

Carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) is the process of capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) in air emissions, compressing it, and storing it permanently in underground geological formations. The technology is in its formative stages, but is seen as necessary to help reduce the climate and environmental effects of CO2, a harmful greenhouse gas. The gas is injected deep underground into Class VI injection wells, which are now regulated by the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The legislation will allow Pennsylvania to begin the process of seeking “primacy” in regulating CCS injection wells in the state in order to speed up the lengthy EPA process, an action a handful of other states have also taken. A 2009 Department of Conservation and Natural Resources report estimates the state could store about 2.4 billion metric tons of CO2 underground, the equivalent of greenhouse gases emitted by more than 500 million gas-powered vehicles in the U.S. each year. A recent Great Plains Institute study found that regulatory and permitting programs are essential to scale geologic storage opportunities.

CCS is integral to the federal effort to develop regional clean hydrogen hubs, with some of them using “blue hydrogen” created from the abundant natural gas supply in Pennsylvania and the Appalachian region with the CO2 emissions stored underground. A hydrogen hub is defined as “a network of clean hydrogen producers, potential clean hydrogen consumers, and connective infrastructure located in close proximity.”

The Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub (ARCH2), which includes Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and part of Ohio, was one of seven projects chosen to receive part of $7 billion in federal funding. It will produce blue hydrogen to be used to decarbonize the power sector and industrial operations. A second eastern Pennsylvania project, the Mid-Atlantic Clean Hydrogen Hub (MACH2), will focus on producing “green” hydrogen using electrolysis with nuclear and renewable energy.

The legislation defines subsurface “pore space” and designates that ownership of the pore space lies with the surface owner of the property. The bill would allow the state to impose a fee on storage operators to help cover regulatory and monitoring costs, and state regulations would follow those of the federal government.

The House amendment to the legislation was supported by a number of environmental groups, while others still oppose the technology, arguing that it is unproven and extends the use of fossil