From the article:
In March 2024, Commission Shift, a watchdog group, and Clean Water Action, a national nonprofit, petitioned EPA to revoke Texas’ primary enforcement responsibility over its underground oil and gas-related injection well program, called the “Class II” well program. This is different than the carbon dioxide disposal well program, called the “Class VI” program. But critics contend that if the Texas commission has a poor track record of managing the first variety, it should not be trusted with the authority to manage the second.
“How do we know those systemic problems won’t persist in the Class VI program when you have the same oversight authority?” said Paige Powell, senior policy manager with Commission Shift, who pointed out that the volumes of CO2 injection with Class VI wells are even larger than with Class II. “We need to make sure that before the Texas Railroad Commission gets any more authority on higher pressure, higher consequence wells, that they need to know what they’re doing.”
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