At the end of 2023, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), signed a final rule that granted Louisiana state primacy over carbon injection and sequestration in the state.

State primacy is the term for a state, instead of the federal government, having the primary enforcement responsibility over a type of injection well.  To protect America’s groundwater, the EPA regulates the injection of fluids underground. Since the passing of Biden’s historic Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), the EPA has seen a large uptick in application submittals for Class VI wells, the classification for wells in which carbon will be injected deep underground. The uptick has caused a permitting application backlog, which results in permitting delays and ultimately affects the speed at which we can sequester carbon through well injection across the country.
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The EPA has delegated primacy for Class VI wells to only three states thus far: North Dakota (2018), Wyoming (2020), and Louisiana (2023). Other states are applying for Class VI primacy (West Virginia is the next closest to receiving approval). State primacy is a tool for improving the speed at which we can store carbon and should be utilized to help increase the number of geological carbon sequestration projects that receive approval. But an uptick in states applying for primacy will at first create the same strain on resources for the EPA that Class VI well applications do. Ultimately, the EPA needs more resources and staffing to manage primacy applications, so that it can increase both federal and state capacity to approve Class VI well projects.