Two Texas congressmen are calling on the Environmental Protection Agency to reject their state’s effort to monitor underground carbon storage and are calling for an investigation, arguing that local regulators can’t be trusted to protect the public.
The EPA currently regulates underground carbon storage in most of the country, except for North Dakota and Wyoming, which have been approved to oversee their own efforts. The EPA is understaffed to regulate underground carbon storage, and companies are increasingly interested in capturing carbon and storing it underground due in large part to economic incentives from the Carbon Reduction Act. the inflation
Texas Democratic U.S. Reps. Joaquin Castro and Lloyd Doggett said in a letter Monday to EPA chief Michael Regan that they are concerned about their state’s agents, the Texas Railroad Commission, to regulate oil, gas and related activities. They want federal regulators to investigate Texas’ permitting and enforcement of underground injections to make sure it meets environmental justice standards.
“The Railroad Commission of Texas cannot be trusted to maintain standards that protect health and safety in communities with carbon capture infrastructure,” Castro said in a statement. “Furthermore, Texas regulators are unwilling to comply with their existing obligations to cap abandoned oil wells. EPA should no longer commission oversight of carbon storage wells and related infrastructure, which found disproportionately in communities of color already exposed to dangerous levels of pollution.”
A commission spokesman said in an email that “the agency’s highest priority is to ensure the safety and security of Texans and the environment, while providing a predictable regulatory environment that allows our state to be the reliable energy producer in the country.”
