§146.82. Required Class VI permit information. — Inbound Citations

(e) All applicants for Class I, II, III, and V permits shall provide the following information to the Director, using the application form provided by the Director. Applicants for Class VI permits shall follow the criteria provided in § 146.82 of this chapter.

(1) The activities conducted by the applicant which require it to obtain permits under RCRA, UIC, the National Pollution Discharge Elimination system (NPDES) program under the Clean Water Act, or the Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) program under the Clean Air Act.

(4) The operator's name, address, telephone number, ownership status, and status as Federal, State, private, public, or other entity.

(6) A listing of all permits or construction approvals received or applied for under any of the following programs:

(vi) National Emission Standards for Hazardous Pollutants (NESHAPS) preconstruction approval under the Clean Air Act.

(7) A topographic map (or other map if a topographic map is unavailable) extending one mile beyond the property boundaries of the source depicting the facility and each of its intake and discharge structures; each of its hazardous waste treatment, storage, or disposal facilities; each well where fluids from the facility are injected underground; and those wells, springs, and other surface water bodies, and drinking water wells listed in public records or otherwise known to the applicant within a quarter mile of the facility property boundary.

(9) For EPA-administered programs, the applicant shall identify and submit on a list with the permit application the names and addresses of all owners of record of land within one-quarter mile of the facility boundary. This requirement may be waived by the Regional Administrator where the site is located in a populous area and the Regional Administrator determines that the requirement would be impracticable.

(10) A plugging and abandonment plan that meets the requirements of § 146.10 of this chapter and is acceptable to the Director.

(i) The Director shall consider and approve the financial responsibility demonstration for all the phases of the geologic sequestration project prior to issue a Class VI permit (§ 146.82).

(2) Any planned stimulation activities, other than stimulation for formation testing conducted under § 146.82; and

(c) At the Director's discretion, the Director may approve, in consultation with EPA, an alternative post-injection site care timeframe other than the 50 year default, if an owner or operator can demonstrate during the permitting process that an alternative post-injection site care timeframe is appropriate and ensures non-endangerment of USDWs. The demonstration must be based on significant, site-specific data and information including all data and information collected pursuant to §§ 146.82 and 146.83, and must contain substantial evidence that the geologic sequestration project will no longer pose a risk of endangerment to USDWs at the end of the alternative post-injection site care timeframe.

(1) A demonstration of an alternative post-injection site care timeframe must include consideration and documentation of:

(i) The results of computational modeling performed pursuant to delineation of the area of review under § 146.84;

(ii) The predicted timeframe for pressure decline within the injection zone, and any other zones, such that formation fluids may not be forced into any USDWs; and/or the timeframe for pressure decline to pre-injection pressures;

(iii) The predicted rate of carbon dioxide plume migration within the injection zone, and the predicted timeframe for the cessation of migration;

(iv) A description of the site-specific processes that will result in carbon dioxide trapping including immobilization by capillary trapping, dissolution, and mineralization at the site;

(v) The predicted rate of carbon dioxide trapping in the immobile capillary phase, dissolved phase, and/or mineral phase;

(vi) The results of laboratory analyses, research studies, and/or field or site-specific studies to verify the information required in paragraphs (iv) and (v) of this section;

(vii) A characterization of the confining zone(s) including a demonstration that it is free of transmissive faults, fractures, and micro-fractures and of appropriate thickness, permeability, and integrity to impede fluid (e.g., carbon dioxide, formation fluids) movement;

(viii) The presence of potential conduits for fluid movement including planned injection wells and project monitoring wells associated with the proposed geologic sequestration project or any other projects in proximity to the predicted/modeled, final extent of the carbon dioxide plume and area of elevated pressure;

(ix) A description of the well construction and an assessment of the quality of plugs of all abandoned wells within the area of review;

(x) The distance between the injection zone and the nearest USDWs above and/or below the injection zone; and

(2) Information submitted to support the demonstration in paragraph (c)(1) of this section must meet the following criteria:

(i) All analyses and tests performed to support the demonstration must be accurate, reproducible, and performed in accordance with the established quality assurance standards;

(ii) Estimation techniques must be appropriate and EPA-certified test protocols must be used where available;

(iii) Predictive models must be appropriate and tailored to the site conditions, composition of the carbon dioxide stream and injection and site conditions over the life of the geologic sequestration project;

(iv) Predictive models must be calibrated using existing information (e.g., at Class I, Class II, or Class V experimental technology well sites) where sufficient data are available;

(v) Reasonably conservative values and modeling assumptions must be used and disclosed to the Director whenever values are estimated on the basis of known, historical information instead of site-specific measurements;

(vi) An analysis must be performed to identify and assess aspects of the alternative post-injection site care timeframe demonstration that contribute significantly to uncertainty. The owner or operator must conduct sensitivity analyses to determine the effect that significant uncertainty may contribute to the modeling demonstration.

(vii) An approved quality assurance and quality control plan must address all aspects of the demonstration; and,

(2) The monitoring frequency and spatial distribution of monitoring wells based on baseline geochemical data that has been collected under § 146.82(a)(6) and on any modeling results in the area of review evaluation required by § 146.84(c).

(a) Except during stimulation, the owner or operator must ensure that injection pressure does not exceed 90 percent of the fracture pressure of the injection zone(s) so as to ensure that the injection does not initiate new fractures or propagate existing fractures in the injection zone(s). In no case may injection pressure initiate fractures in the confining zone(s) or cause the movement of injection or formation fluids that endangers a USDW. Pursuant to requirements at § 146.82(a)(9), all stimulation programs must be approved by the Director as part of the permit application and incorporated into the permit.