WASHINGTON (CN) - The Environmental Protection Agency has issued minimum federal requirements to maintain safe drinking water while injecting carbon dioxide underground, to trap it.
Geologic sequestration, as the trapping is called, is one of several options available to reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, helping to mitigate climate change, according to the new rule.
The requirements apply to owners or operators of wells to be used to inject carbon dioxide into the subsurface for long-term storage. It establishes a new class of well, Class VI, and sets minimum technical criteria for the permitting, geologic site characterization, area of review and corrective action, financial responsibility, well construction, operation, mechanical integrity testing, monitoring, well plugging, post-injection site care, and site closure of Class VI wells to protect underground sources of drinking water.
Click the document icon for this regulation and others.
Read the Top 8
Sign up for the Top 8, a roundup of the day's top stories delivered directly to your inbox Monday through Friday.
Additional Reads
-
Residents near toxic train wreck question water safety February 15, 2023 -
Feds step in to extinguish Alabama landfill fire January 19, 2023
-
New climate deal spurs hopes of more carbon storage projects August 15, 2022 -
