State Business Groups Urge EPA to Speed Up Permitting for Carbon Capture Projects

Letter adds to growing, bipartisan efforts to streamline permitting backlog at EPA for carbon storage projects and address delays in processing state primacy applications

WASHINGTON, D.C. — This week, the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry joined seven business groups representing a diverse cross-section of industry in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Illinois, Texas, and New Mexico in sending a letter to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan calling for the expeditious approval of state primacy applications for Class VI injection wells. In addition to the PA Chamber, the groups include the Pennsylvania Chemical Industry Council; Chemical Industry Council of Illinois; Illinois Manufacturers’ Association; New Mexico Chamber of Commerce; Texas Economic Development Council; Greater Houston Partnership; and the West Virginia Manufacturers Association.

While carbon capture and sequestration (CCS), a technology that would help reduce emissions from hard-to-abate industries and spur economic growth, has been given full support from the Biden Administration, the permitting process for CO2 injection wells, also known as Class VI wells, has been stagnant since the Inflation Reduction Act was approved. Similarly, states requesting primacy over Class VI wells permitting have faced significant delays in their applications before the EPA, despite its ability to speed up the deployment of CCS.

Environmental stewardship and sustainability aren’t routinely spoken in the same breath as the plastics and chemicals industries in general circles. But as members of the Pennsylvania Chemical Industry Council (PCIC) are proving, they should be.  Our industry is leading the charge with innovations in circular manufacturing, production, and advanced recycling to create a more sustainable, energy-efficient future.

The concept of recycling is a noble cause. The challenge is that around 10% of the plastics we throw in our recycling bins at home actually end up being recycled. The rest ends up in landfills, burned in incinerators, or worse. And in some instances, Pennsylvanians don’t have a viable option to recycle at all. However, the issue isn’t with plastics, it's how we manage plastic waste. We need to take a hard look at modernizing Pennsylvania’s recycling laws. 

The hard truth for many is that calls to ban all plastics are misguided and, frankly, not grounded in reality. Chemicals and plastics are indispensable to modern life. Chemistry is essential for nearly every medical and healthcare product we use, ranging from life-saving equipment and infection-protection materials to PPE, disinfectants and sanitizers, and pharmaceutical ingredients. Harnessing renewable energy sources, building more fuel-efficient cars, and designing energy-smart buildings, all rely on chemicals and plastics. It’s also necessary for food packaging and preservation, electronics, clothing, and much more.

Steve Kratz is a Bravo Group Senior Director and president of the Pennsylvania Chemical Industry Council. With more than 15 years of political, government and advocacy campaign experience, Steve brings solutions to clients across industries, including Fortune 500 companies and trade associations, with a special focus on businesses in highly regulated industries. 

• Advanced recycling, chemical manufacturing and the move to a circular economy will be hot button issues not just for the chemical, plastics and waste communities, and regulators, but for any company looking to reduce its carbon footprint and provide more sustainable product options for customers. We all depend upon plastics in our daily lives, but the challenge of plastic waste is growing. Long-proven advanced recycling technologies, which only recently became economically viable, transform plastics into base materials that can be used to create new products, fuels and materials. This includes new advances to tackle hard-to-recycle plastics. That’s the purest example of a circular economy, where all materials are reused and no waste is created. In 2019, Pennsylvania passed advanced recycling legislation, which positioned the commonwealth as a leader amongst states in this burgeoning nationwide industry. Set up Google alerts on this topic for sure.