Login | May 06, 2025
Bill would allow Ohio to regulate state’s carbon-capture industry
KEITH ARNOLD
Special to the Legal News
Published: May 5, 2025
The sponsors of a bill that puts Ohio in control of efforts within the state to capture carbon dioxide and store it in injection wells recently outlined the details of the bill and their rationale for it.
Republican Rep. Monica Robb Blasdel of Columbiana told members of the Natural Resources Committee in the Ohio House of Representatives that the Environmental Protection Agency currently regulates those wells and then identified what she said are two problems with that structure.
“First, as you all know, working through the dense federal bureaucracy is a taxing and artificially long process. Companies looking to implement this technology have faced yearslong delays, curtailing potential investment into our state,” the lawmaker said during the committee hearing. “Second, and most importantly, federal regulation and permitting is out of touch with the needs of our state and serve as a barrier to ensuring Ohioans perspectives influence this process.”
House Bill 170 would establish a framework for the state to regulate carbon capture and storage projects within state boundaries.
Carbon capture and storage, also known as CCS, focuses on capturing carbon dioxide emissions from industrial sources and storing the gas deep underground into geologically formed voids and cavities, testimony provided.
Robb Blasdel offered as an example a large power plant in the eastern part of the state.
“This power plant is a byproduct of the essential energy it provides our state, emitting large amounts of CO2,” she said. “Instead of pumping this byproduct into the atmosphere, using CCS technology, the CO2 is isolated and moved to an on-site well next to the power plant. There, this well moves the isolated CO2 hundreds of feet below the ground, to naturally formed geological pore space for safe, permanent and secure storage.”
HB 170 would require the chief of the Division of Oil and Gas Resources Management to adopt rules for the administration, implementation and enforcement of the industry, including the application and permitting processes.
Rep. Bob Peterson, who sponsors the bill with Robb Blasdel, noted that geology that has been instrumental to the state’s current energy production boom is beneficial to carbon-capture development.
“Because of the prevalence of porous shale rock in the Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio tri-state area, Ohio is an excellent candidate for Class VI injection wells,” the Sabina Republican said.
West Virginia already has enacted similar legislation to reap the benefits of the technology and the investment it can bring, he said.
“Oil and gas are still expected to remain a significant part of the energy mix,” he said. “By capturing emissions from the use of oil and gas, CCS supports both …, helping esnsure access to cleaner, more affordable energy.”
Robb Blasdel said gaining regulatory primacy over Ohio injection wells should result in improved and immediate accountability.
“Regulating carbon capture and storage ourselves means that the individuals who are responsible for regulatory compliance will be Ohioans,” she said. “They will have a vested interest in ensuring that safety regulations are followed, and resources can be on-site rapidly if there is a need. Creating a regulatory framework for carbon capture and storage will ensure that the process, from start to finish, is done by Ohioans, for Ohioans.”
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