EPA Class VI well permits take 3-6 years, bottlenecking every U.S. CCS project

Every CO2 sequestration project in the U.S. that wants to inject captured carbon underground must obtain a Class VI injection well permit from the EPA. Of all Class VI permits received by the EPA over the past 13 years, only 8 have been approved, each taking 3 to 6 years to reach a final decision. CCS project developers -- companies like Summit Carbon Solutions, Navigator CO2, and dozens of ethanol plants and power generators -- cannot begin injection without this permit, meaning billions of dollars in capital sit idle waiting on regulatory paperwork. So what? Projects miss their 45Q tax credit windows (which require construction to begin within statutory deadlines), investors lose confidence and pull funding, and the U.S. falls further behind its own climate targets. States with primacy (North Dakota, Wyoming, Louisiana) approve permits in under a year, proving the bottleneck is bureaucratic, not technical. The problem persists because the EPA's Underground Injection Control program was never staffed or funded to handle the surge in CCS applications triggered by the Inflation Reduction Act's enhanced 45Q credits, and Congress has not appropriated dedicated funding to clear the backlog.