What Happened?
If your community sits near a proposed underground carbon storage well, the EPA's August cancellation of its 2023 environmental-justice guidance has now made it murky if and how public participation and environmental-justice considerations will apply in federal and state permitting. A new report from the research arm of Congress on permitting for Class VI carbon sequestration makes it clear that public input and community-protection considerations are no longer required going forward.
The Safe Drinking Water Act lets EPA hand off permitting authority to states that meet minimum requirements . That's a delegation called "primacy." EPA has granted Class VI primacy to six states: North Dakota in 2018, Wyoming, Louisiana in 2024, and West Virginia, Arizona, and Texas in 2025.
Why Does it Matter to Me?
As of September, 142 individual wells across 44 projects were waiting for EPA review — more than ten times the 13 wells currently operating under EPA-issued permits. That backlog means carbon capture projects tied to industrial facilities and power plants across the country are stalled.
Without the rescinded guidance, states that now hold primacy may handle public participation and environmental justice concerns differently from one another, since those considerations are not specifically required by regulation. The level of community input you get could depend entirely on which state you live in.
Both Sides, Now
The Primacy Certainty Act of 2025, introduced as H.R. 4880 by Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) and as S. 2505 by Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK), would require EPA to decide a state's Class VI primacy application within 180 days. Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) introduced the House version and Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) introduced the Senate version.
Opponents argue that permitting needs stronger oversight because leakage or failures could threaten nearby communities and drinking-water resources. A 2020 rupture of a Denbury CO₂ pipeline near Satartia, Mississippi, documented in a federal investigation by the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, raised concerns among communities facing proposed CO₂ pipelines, NPR reported in 2023, though that incident involved a transport pipeline, not a Class VI well.
Three 2025 executive orders revoked prior executive orders related to environmental justice and directed EPA and other agencies to change course.
Congress has the power to amend EPA's underlying Class VI rule but has not yet done so.
What Happens Next?
Louisiana, even though it received primacy in 2024, issued its own executive order this year pausing new permit approvals, citing environmental and legal concerns and a lack of resources. That pause shows how uneven implementation could become as more states take over permitting.
The Primacy Certainty Act of 2025 remains in committee in both chambers. Congress is also weighing whether to amend EPA's 2010 Class VI rule and whether to address concerns about public participation and the potential environmental and community effects of Class VI wells. For the permitting backlog to shrink and community-protection rules to be settled, either Congress must act or EPA must issue new guidance. Will your state's program protect your community the same way the federal one would have?
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