By Ed Sealover | The Sum & Substance
Colorado is about to begin setting rules for companies seeking to pump carbon dioxide underground — a new technology that state leaders call necessary to reduce emissions but that business leaders warn won’t come to Colorado if regulations are too strict.
Carbon capture occurs when companies pull carbon dioxide from the emissions emanating from industrial sources and then use wells to inject that gas into deep-rock formations, where it can be stored permanently. Some companies also are working to develop direct air capture where the carbon dioxide can be pulled straight from the atmosphere, but that technology remains nascent.
Currently, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is responsible for permitting carbon-capture projects, but the process is slow and leaves any such permitting outside the control of Colorado and local governments. A 2023 law permitted Colorado to join a handful of other states in seeking permitting primacy from the federal government, and the Energy and Carbon Management Commission has been working on proposed permitting rules in advance of a Dec. 2 hearing.