Natural Gas with CCS: CO2 pipelines and storage (permitting & permit timelines)

Context

Lengthy permitting timelines are often cited as one of the primary barriers for developing natural gas plants with CCS. Obtaining a Class VI permit for geological CO2 storage can take anywhere from two to eight years due to backlogs at the federal EPA and a lack of standardized guidance across different regions. These delays significantly slow down projects that could otherwise be built quickly, and the multiple-year timeline extension is a sticking point for data center operators that highly value time-to-power.

Unlike natural gas pipelines, there isn’t a federal siting pathway for interstate CO2 pipelines. Developers have to navigate a patchwork of local and state regulations, and when one of the counties or states denies a permit it can endanger or cancel the entire project.

Industry Observations & Insights

”There are real issues with permitting for CCS at the state level. It's years to get a Class VI permit (even in Texas). Maybe that's fixable, and maybe it's not, but it turns this into like a five to ten year timeline at least. For some projects it's not a big deal, but maybe for the hyperscale world it is”

”Permitting simplicity and speed of development is an important gap. I think it's separate from availability; it's being able to streamline permitting for infrastructure. We can't spend seven or eight years building capture projects. We have to find ways to cut that time in about half.” -John Thompson, CATF

“Class VI regulations, which are (in theory) supposed to be updated every six to eight years have not been updated. And the question is whether there are learnings that we've had over the last nine years that could be better reflected into the regulations.” -John Thompson, CATF

“There's the matter of permitting certainty for carbon storage permits. There has been a large backlog in recent years, we're excited by the progress by the Trump Administration to give states primacy, but that is not an immediate fix. It's still taking time to get them permitted.” -Energy Policy Expert

”What we hear from our clients and others is that it's harder to permit a gas plant with CCS than one without CCS. That seems counter to climate goals that we would want to have. I understand the barrier is the geologic storage as well as the actual facility installation, so that seems like problem #1. If CCS is way harder than not doing it, then no one's going to do it.” -Financial Industry Leader

“There are a lot of permitting hurdles. You have to permit a CO2 pipeline on a county or state level basis. There's no federal pathway to get a large Interstate CO2 pipeline permitted; projects are just getting canceled because they can't get their permits and so that is a serious near medium long-term challenge for decarbonizing natural gas. “ -Energy Policy Expert

• Natural Gas with CCS: CO2 pipelines and storage (site availability & development)