West Texans split on proposed direct air capture project that could be largest in U.S.

From left, Environmental Protection Agency officials Ken Johnson, Sona Chaudhary, Thomas Rucki and Scott Ellinger listen to testimony from West Texas residents during a public engagement hearing about the proposed construction of a series of carbon capture plants by Occidental Petroleum Oct. 3, in Odessa. (Credit: Vincent Bao for The Texas Tribune)

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ODESSA — West Texans were divided Thursday over a proposed carbon dioxide injection site in the heart of the nation’s oil-rich Permian Basin.

Local elected leaders and executives promised cleaner air after the site is operational, while environmental activists were wary of seismic activity and water contamination.

About 15 people testified before the Environmental Protection Agency at a hotel conference room in Odessa for a series of public hearings on a proposed carbon dioxide injection site, which aims to suck 722,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide out of the air and stockpile it 4,400 feet underground annually.

To do so, Occidental Petroleum Corp., or Oxy, must secure three injection permits known as Class VI. If approved, the Houston-based energy company would become the first in Texas to obtain federal approval for such a project. It would be the largest direct air capture facility in the United States.

Carbon capture and storage technology has been around for decades. Now, the oil and gas industry is ramping up efforts to break ground on projects the federal government is helping to afford. Congress and the Biden administration are promoting such projects by setting aside $12 billion for carbon capture and storage initiatives.

The EPA ends its public comment phase Monday. And will take approximately 90 days to issue its final decision or ask Oxy to make changes to its proposal. Construction on the site — located about 14 from downtown Odessa — began last year and is expected to be operational in 2025.

[Texas opens more coastal waters for carbon storage wells]

Odessa City Council member Steven Thompson, who oversees the city’s northeast bloc, expressed confidence in the project. He said Oxy has earned local trust, financially supporting a handful of the city’s initiatives, including donating to Odessa’s first major sports complex.

“We try to do all we can out of here to keep the air as clean as we possibly can,” Thompson said. “We all have to live it and breathe it every day.”

Renee Henderson, president and CEO of the Odessa Chamber of Commerce, said she was optimistic about the jobs the facility would bring to the region if completed. Oxy estimated it would create about 120 jobs, a spokesperson said.

Residents, however, raised questions about the environmental effects.

Gene Collins, an Odessa resident of 73 years and environmental activist, said he was concerned about possible earthquakes and contamination of the groundwater. Collins also said the agency should have been more diligent about reaching out to residents. He had just recently learned about the hearings, he said.

“Our seismic activity has risen out of this area to astronomical levels. We had an earthquake just a couple of weeks ago that was 5.5 on the Richter scale,” Collins said, later adding concerns about the groundwater piping into his home. “I use well water, and my water comes from the Ogallala aquifer, and I'm concerned about that aquifer.”

Hollie Lamb, vice president of Ring Energy, said she was concerned about portions of the draft permit that had been redacted, including details about construction. Lamb suggested that federal regulators should extend the review of the draft permit.

In a statement, a spokesperson for the EPA said that Oxy met every requirement under the Safe Water Drinking Act, established in 1974. The spokesperson said that the risk of seismic activity due to the injections would be minimal.

Katherine Romanak, a research professor and enviromental geochemist at the University of Texas at Austin, said carbon dioxide has been stored permanently without grave environmental impact. She said carbon dioxide behaves differently from saltwater disposals, which have contributed to seismic events in the Permian Basin.

“It’s sticky in the subsurface,” Romanak, who has studied carbon capture practices for two decades, said. “It likes to stay down there.”

Oxy, in its permit application, proposed to monitor the groundwater in the area every three months. After three years, they will reduce the number of groundwater monitoring to once a year. Corrosion in the well will be monitored four times a year, every three months.

The integrity of the well will be measured with pressure and temperature gauges placed on the surface and downhole. Temperature and pressure gauges will be measured every second on the surface and every ten seconds in the well, providing a reading every ten minutes. A change in pressure could indicate a problem.

The company must alert the EPA 30 days before most tests or if there are any changes. It must also alert them of any malfunctions within 24 hours.

Direct air capture, a technique Oxy has been pioneering, is the process of catching carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The equipment separates the carbon dioxide from other particles and raises the temperature to 100 degrees celsius to burn them and leave only carbon dioxide. The remaining gas is compressed until it is the consistency of brine before it is injected into layers of rock underground.

Carbon dioxide traps heat and prevents the atmosphere from cooling. For as long as the technology has existed, the oil and gas industry has touted this practice as a way to avert climate change.

Experts warn against wholly trusting carbon capture and storage technology as the solution to climate change. Ramanan Krishnamoorti, senior vice president of energy at the University of Houston, said it is one measure.

He said the public should be aware of the precautions that Oxy and the EPA put in place should issues with the well arise, including contamination, seismic activity and leaks in the well.

“We know we can do it with long-term storage capability, but it's not a one-size-fits-all answer,” he said.

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