Texas has officially taken the wheel on permits to inject and permanently store industrial carbon dioxide underground, a job the Environmental Protection Agency used to oversee. With the EPA granting the state “primacy” over Class VI wells, the Railroad Commission of Texas is now calling the shots on where and how CO₂ can be buried in oil and gas country. The shift is already changing project timelines and public review, with high‑stakes implications for the Permian Basin and beyond.
What the EPA decided and why it matters
The EPA’s final rule, published in November 2025, concluded that Texas’ Class VI program meets federal Safe Drinking Water Act standards and granted the state primacy to run the Class VI underground injection control program. That sign‑off means the Railroad Commission can now implement and enforce federal Class VI requirements directly in Texas, with both federal and state officials saying the move should cut duplicative reviews and speed up permit decisions, according to the EPA.
How Texas set up the office
To get ready for primacy, the state created a small technical unit and leaned on federal support to stand it up. Legal and agency materials describe a five‑year federal grant of roughly $1.93 million to help launch and run the program. The rollout included hiring technical reviewers, engineering specialists and geoscientists to handle the dense subsurface modeling and long‑term monitoring plans that come with Class VI wells, as detailed by Baker Botts.
Who’s already in the queue
The Railroad Commission’s public Class VI application list, last updated March 11, 2026, shows 18 geologic storage permit applications currently under state review. The earliest entry is Oxy Low Carbon Ventures’ Brown Pelican application, which was filed in May 2022 and received administrative approval in October 2025, according to the Railroad Commission of Texas.
The Midland Reporter‑Telegram has reported that the Brown Pelican permit covers about 8.5 million metric tons of CO₂ to be stored deep underground near Odessa and is designed to pair with Oxy’s STRATOS direct‑air‑capture unit.
Fees, financial assurances and what projects must show
Texas rules set out a hefty fee structure for would‑be carbon storage operators. Each geologic storage facility application comes with a $50,000 base fee, and amending an existing permit costs $25,000. On top of that, operators must pay $0.025 per metric ton injected and a $50,000 annual post‑injection fee for any year they are not injecting until the director signs off on closure.
Projects also have to prove they can pay for the full life cycle of the site. Operators must demonstrate and maintain financial responsibility for corrective action, plugging, post‑injection care and emergency response, and they must provide financial assurance that covers those obligations over the facility’s life, according to 16 TAC §5.205.
Supporters and critics
Industry groups and some state lawmakers argue that primacy will trim red tape, cut down on delays and make Texas a more attractive home for carbon capture and storage projects. Critics, including watchdog organizations quoted in news coverage, counter that the Railroad Commission’s long, close relationship with oil and gas operators raises real questions about how tough the agency will be on Class VI permits and whether communities will get enough notice and meaningful input on projects that are supposed to last for decades. A range of local reactions and perspectives is captured in reporting by The Texas Tribune.
What happens next will likely set the tone for the entire program. The Railroad Commission’s early decisions and the pace of its technical reviews will define how long projects actually take to move from application to injection. Those first outcomes will help determine whether Texas truly becomes a national hub for carbon storage. In the meantime, nearby landowners, county officials and environmental groups are keeping close tabs on permit notices and public comment windows as the state moves from rulemaking into the grind of day‑to‑day permitting.
