EPA signed off Wednesday on Arizona’s request to oversee all classes of underground injection wells, including those for geologic storage of carbon dioxide.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said the decision to grant top permitting authority to Arizona was grounded in the idea that states know their water resources best, as well as their business needs. The move comes roughly four months after EPA proposed issuing the designation.
“I am excited to see the economic growth that will be spurred by granting Arizona primacy to regulate underground injection under the Safe Drinking Water Act,” Zeldin said in a news release, echoing the Trump administration’s past support for state oversight.
Arizona is now the fifth state with the ability to grant permits for Class VI wells, which are used to inject CO2 underground for long-term sequestration. Other states with that authority include North Dakota, Wyoming, Louisiana and West Virginia.
