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Carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) is a process where supercritical carbon dioxide (1070+ psi and 88 degrees Fahrenheit) is injected into Class VI injection wells, into underground subsurface rock formations to a depth of at least 5,000 feet. The CO2 gas fills pore spaces located within these formations.
Recently, Ohio’s legislators introduced bills HB 170 and SB 136, which will give the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) primacy (primary control) over Ohio’s Class VI carbon dioxide injection wells. Currently, the U.S. EPA has control and issues the permits for Class VI wells.
H.B. 170 and S.B. 136 will allow the ODNR chief to force non-consenting property owners to surrender use of the “pore space” under their private property.
“A storage operator who has obtained the consent of owners of at least 70 percent of the pore space proposed to be used in a storage facility may submit a statutory consolidation application for the operation of the entire proposed storage facility to the chief of the division of oil and gas resources management,” H.B. 170 states.
If the bills pass, private landowners could have no rights or the ability to stop this dangerous asphyxiant from being stored under their homes.