The Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to grant West Virginia primary oversight of carbon sequestration wells came under fire from environmental groups that slammed the state’s “abysmal track record” with oversight programs.
The Sierra Club, West Virginia Surface Owners’ Rights Organization, and other organizations said in a brief filed in the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit Wednesday that the agency failed to consider evidence of the state’s previous mismanagement of oil and gas wells before handing regulatory power over the carbon sequestration wells.
The wells are used for long-term storage of carbon dioxide from power plants, steel mills, ...