The Council on Environmental Quality today announced that nominations are being sought by Monday, Sept. 26 from individuals interested in serving on the Carbon Dioxide Capture, Utilization and Sequestration (CCUS) Federal Lands and Outer Continental Shelf Permitting Task Force. Vacancies are expected to be filled by the end of 2022.
In addition to representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Energy, Department of the Interior, and Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Administration, the Task Force will include CCUS project and CO2 pipeline developers or operators, experts in health and environmental effects and pipeline safety, nongovernmental organizations focused on environmental protection, members from any state requesting participation, and potentially local government and tribal representatives.
Authorized under the federal spending bill for FY 2021, the Task Force will meet at least twice annually and is charged with identifying challenges and successes that permitting authorities, project developers, and operators face to permit CCUS projects in an efficient, orderly, and responsible manner, and providing recommendations to improve the permitting process and regional coordination for the development of CCUS projects and CO2 pipelines.
In doing so, the Task Force will:
- Inventory existing or potential federal/state approaches to facilitating CCUS project and CO2 pipeline reviews;
- Develop common models for state-level CO2 pipeline regulation and oversight guidelines;
- Provide technical assistance to state in implementing Task Force-developed regulatory requirements and models;
- Inventory current or emerging activities that transform captured CO2 into a product or input to a product of commercial value;
- Identify priority CO2 pipelines needed to enable CCUS projects at scale;
- Identify gaps in existing federal/state regulatory framework and in existing data for CCUS project and CO2 pipeline deployment;
- Identify federal/state financing mechanisms available to project developers; and
- Develop recommendations for federal agencies on how to develop and research carbon capture technologies for deployment on federal lands/waters
