The Louisiana Department of Energy and Natural Resources Office of Conservation (LDENR) made a request for comment in December asking if it would be a good idea to allow for more permit transparency with Class VI Carbon Dioxide Geologic Sequestration Wells than is currently provided under U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rules.
The short answer is yes, and thanks for asking.
Class VI wells are the category of wells drilled as part of underground carbon sequestration activities for long-term storage of carbon dioxide.
Typically, EPA manages the review of Class VI wells, however in 2023 Louisiana became the third state in the country (joining North Dakota and Wyoming) to receive “primacy” on Class VI wells, meaning the state now has the authority to review and approve or deny these permits.
Under EPA’s rules, a company needs to request confidentiality, and it can be granted for the entire application leaving a 30-day window for public comment after the permit has gone through regulatory review.
In the request for comments, the Louisiana Department of Energy and Natural Resources (DENR) specifically asked for “the extent to which these rules should differ from those of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found at 40 CFR 2:201-2.215 and 2.304.” The announcement can be found here on page 162 on the PDF and 1941 on the document.
This request for comment includes comments on changes including a more transparent including, “a potential requirement for applicants/operators to provide redacted copies of documents with purportedly confidential business information; a potential requirement for applicants/operators to swear under penalty of law as to the veracity and good faith nature of any request for confidential business information; the period of time after which information previously determined to be confidential business information may cease to be treated by the office of conservation as such or after which the applicant/operator must again request continued confidential treatment.”
The current EPA rules are generous when it comes to granting confidentiality to Class VI well permits. There have been clarifying memos and other guidance from EPA that allows for greater transparency, but the baseline appears to be granting a company-requested confidentiality through the permit process. The DENR request for comments asks whether those rules should be changed to allow for more transparency throughout the process.
For example, in one section of the EPA rule, EPA states that a document or other record should be considered as a single unit, even if there are multiple individual items of information. This could mean a larger portion of the record, including non-confidential information, could be swept up in the confidential classification.
Instead, the Louisiana Wildlife Federation would recommend to DENR the addition of clarifying the language with the February 2024 updated Guidelines for UIC Class VI Applicants which requires the submission of two versions of each document – one redacted version and one complete version with the claimed confidential business information being marked. In this way, a redacted application can be posted on DENR’s website while DENR goes through the process of determining how much of the requested information qualifies as confidential business information.
By posting applications as soon as possible, DENR would also be fulfilling recommendations within EPA’s Quick Reference Guide on Public Participation for Class VI Injection Wells that recommends bringing stakeholders into the process early: “Providing all potentially affected communities with the means to understand the potential risks and benefits of a proposed Class VI injection well early in project development ensures that communities are informed. This enables communities to participate in the application review and enables UIC Program Directors and permit 1 applicant or potential Class VI well owners or operators understand community concerns, preferences and perceptions on GS (Geologic Sequestration) and the proposed Class VI well.”
The release of the application components not deemed confidential business information would also help fulfill aspects of the Memorandum of Understanding between Louisiana and EPA Region 6 for the Class VI UIC Program. “The state will fully incorporate robust and ongoing opportunities for public participation, especially for lower-income people, communities of color and those experiencing a disproportionate burden of pollution and environmental hazards, as described in the Program Description.”
LWF’s full comments can be read here.
Overall, it’s commendable that DENR is opening up this portion of the transparency laws to give more information to the public while still protecting proprietary information for the company. Transparency, to the extent possible, along with planned-for enhanced community and stakeholder engagement about Class VI wells is vital as Louisiana moves forward with the evaluation of applications.