Manchin Questions Administration's Proposed Power Plant Rule, Slow-Walking of Carbon Capture Well Permits

Press Release

"Between the improvements we made to the 45Q tax credit in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)and the funding we included for deployment and demonstration in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, CCUS and DAC are on the rise. In the IRA, we increased the value of the 45Q tax credit from $50 per ton to $85 for carbon captured and sequestered; from $35 to $60 per ton for carbon captured and utilized; and more than doubled the credit for direct air capture because that technology is currently more expensive

Furthermore, our Committee's portion of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law included more than $10 billion in DOE [Department of Energy] programs to commercialize large CCUS and DAC projects. We've spent decades researching and proving CCUS technologies work. The programs in the IRA and Infrastructure Law were intended to accelerate the full-scale deployment of them. And this legislation is attracting unprecedented private sector investment. CCUS and DAC developers have submitted more than 120 applications to EPA [Environmental Protection Agency] for Class VI well permits to sequester carbon since the IRA passed, and there are 169 total pending applications, and not one approval has been made by the Biden Administration.

The current administration claims to be supportive of carbon capture, just as Congress has been. They issued a report in June of 2021 which stated: 'The Administration is committed to accelerating the responsible development and deployment of CCUS to make it a widely available, increasingly cost-effective, and rapidly scalable climate solution.' The same report also argues that: 'If the United States is to achieve its climate goals, research suggests that CCUS deployment should increase tenfold over the next decade.' But it is hard for me to square this Administration's own report with its actions. Nearly two and a half years after that report came out -- not a single Class VI well has been approved. At the same time, this Administration is more than happy to mandate widespread deployment of carbon capture on gas and coal fired power plants. Let me be clear: issuing a mandate to use carbon capture on power plants while withholding Class VI well approvals is nothing more than a mandate to shut down all of our dispatchable coal and gas power plants. And the Supreme Court has been clear that Congress has not given EPA the authority to mandate a transition of our generation fleet.

Earlier this week, the EFI Foundation, which is led by former Secretary of Energy Moniz, released a report highlighting the potential infrastructure needed to meet the EPA's proposed power plant regulations. In fact, it was released on Halloween, which is fitting -- because it presents a scary picture. As they explain, 'permitting CCS is a highly uncertain process that can take years in ideal conditions' because 'the CCS value chain covers multiple sectors' and there is 'little federal coordination.' As one example, the report predicts that we may need to increase the total miles of CO2 pipelines from 5,000 to over 50,000 -- a 1,000% increase in just over a decade. The report specifically notes that the current Class VI well and NEPA permitting processes call into serious question the feasibility of EPA's power plant proposal. I have already expressed my grave concern with the EPA's power plant proposal, highlighting its threat to electric reliability and energy security. And EFI's analysis just adds to my concerns. If we are going to recognize the economic, energy security, and environmental benefits from CCUS and DAC, it will require much more coordination from the federal government.

A typical Class VI well can sequester around 1 megaton per year, depending on the geology.According to EPA's own greenhouse gas inventory, the U.S. power sector emits around 1,500 megatons of CO2 each year. Even if we want to capture one third of that, that would be 500 Class VI wells. As you know, the EPA has the permitting responsibility, do you think they'll be able to permit enough wells to meet the demand created by these rules?

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How important are the timely Class VI well permits for your organization?

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A proven way to bring more resources to speed up Class VI wells is allowing primacy. Primacy means that the states would have the responsibility. In Wyoming, you're one of the two states that successfully applied for Class VI primacy. We've been trying since 2022 in West Virginia. How long was your process in getting your permit and how has it affected [development of Class VI wells] since you got primacy in your state?"

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