June 10, 2025 - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposed approving Texas' request to oversee its own permitting for projects to inject carbon dioxide underground, a move long sought by the state's regulators and oil and gas companies with pending projects, such as Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY), Reuters reported Monday.

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said the state is best positioned to protect its drinking water from contamination while enabling carbon capture and storage projects to proceed.

The planned approval comes as some landowners and environmental groups have expressed concerns that pumping CO2 into the ground could harm their groundwater and exacerbate earthquakes and old oil well blowouts already happening in the Permian Basin.

Federal tax credits to incentivize carbon sequestration projects that were expanded under former President Biden's Inflation Reduction Act have been left mostly intact, even as House Republicans voted to eliminate or reduce other subsidies for clean energy and electric vehicles.

The Trump administration, Republicans and some oil companies including Occidental (NYSE:OXY) have maintained support for CCS technology, even as President Trump has sought to roll back most regulations aimed at reducing CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions.