February 16, 2025 - An assistant director at the Grand Forks-based Energy and Environmental Research Center spoke during a Wednesday meeting of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, telling its members that “it's in the public interest to promote geologic storage of carbon dioxide.”

Kevin Connors, assistant director for regulatory compliance and energy policy at the EERC, was introduced to the committee by U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D. The hearing was held to discuss carbon capture, utilization and sequestration technologies.

For some – including elected leaders and power companies – carbon-capture has become a top-of-mind project in North Dakota. Cramer, during his own comments, made note of North Dakota’s efforts so far in carbon-capture utilization.

“I love the opportunity to highlight North Dakota’s place in the area of carbon-capture utilization and storage, and there’s a lot that goes into why North Dakota has been at the forefront,” said Cramer, according to a release from his office. “One of the central reasons is the Energy and Environment Research Center. Kevin has been an invaluable asset to both my staff and me. In fact we look to EERC as a bit of an extension of our staff on all matters relating to carbon-capture utilization and storage.”

Connors, Cramer said, has expertise in permitting and carbon storage that “is invaluable to this committee’s work.”

“The successful sequestration of CO2 is a matter of national concern, as is obvious today, and I am glad Kevin can tout the good work of North Dakota in this space and how other states can benefit from our state’s success in permitting Class VI wells,” Cramer said.

The release from Cramer’s office notes that the EPA regulates wells used for underground injection of carbon dioxide. The Safe Drinking Water Act prohibits underground injection of fluids without a permit, including underground injection of carbon dioxide for geologic sequestration. Under SDWA, the EPA is authorized to delegate primary enforcement authority, or primacy, for underground injection control programs to individual states.

Connors was asked by Cramer to explain North Dakota’s emerging role in carbon-capture, utilization and sequestration efforts. Cramer noted that North Dakota has been “piping and utilizing CO2 for 25 years.” He asked Connors: “What is it that put North Dakota at the front?”

Connors’ response: “North Dakota took the approach of developing a resource management framework, so CO2 storage in North Dakota is regulated much like we regulate oil and gas. It's in the public interest to promote geologic storage of carbon dioxide. We declared CO2 is a valuable commodity for its industrial use, specifically for enhanced oil recovery. And we regulate the pore space in North Dakota, like a resource under a resource management framework. That gives the state the ability to create unitization or unitize these projects in order to allow landowners to monetize their resource or monetize their pore space when looking to maximize the use of that pore space. So all nine projects that have been approved in North Dakota have units that have been established by the state regulatory authority.”

Connors also discussed various EPA rules and exemptions and explained potential actions that could amend current regulations.