EPA Advances RCRA Waiver For CCS, Reviving Environmentalists' Attacks

摘要

EPA has formally sent for White House review its final rule to exclude carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) projects from strict Resource Conservation & Recovery Act (RCRA) hazardous waste regulations, though the action is reviving attacks from environmentalists who fear it is premature given uncertainty on CCS' potential to contaminate groundwater. Energy industry officials, however, largely support the rule, which the White House Office of Management & Budget (OMB) received April 24. But they are pushing the agency to expand the rule to provide a blanket exemption for CCS from any RCRA requirements. As proposed, the rule would require CCS projects to obtain Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) permits and could make them liable for citizen suits if their projects violate some RCRA provisions.