The Kern County Board of Supervisors approved what would be the first large-scale carbon capture facility in California on Monday, overcoming one of the final hurdles for a project that environmental groups oppose over potential air and water impacts.
The board’s 4-0 vote enables the California Resources Corp. to start construction on a project to store carbon dioxide in depleted oil and gas reservoirs beneath about 9,000 acres of land in the county. The company still needs approval from EPA, which oversees carbon dioxide injection in wells.
The project is at the forefront of a fundamental fight in California’s climate transition: whether it should support capturing and storing carbon emissions to help meet the state’s 2045 goal of a carbon-neutral economy or instead seek to eliminate emission sources.
The California Air Resources Board has said the state needs carbon capture and storage to meet its goals. The California Public Utilities Commission anticipates the state will continue to rely on natural gas through at least 2039 to provide steady, reliable power to keep the lights on as the state expands use of more variable renewables such as wind and solar power.