Texas Takes Over CCS Permitting

The main update is that Texas’s primacy is now more specifically dated and operationalized, with the story adding an approved Oxy storage project and sharper national context on how many Class VI permits are still in play. The framing also shifts slightly toward continued regulatory scrutiny, emphasizing timeline and oversight concerns rather than just the transfer itself.

The story now adds post-primacy operating details: Texas is not just taking over Class VI permitting, but managing a large queue through an established review process amid continuing concerns about capacity and speed. It also introduces broader U.S. market context, showing approvals rising in early 2026 even as new applications, extensions, and withdrawals complicate the pipeline.

• Texas now has enforcement authority over Class VI wells.
• Approvals increased in early 2026 across the U.S.
• New application volume eased while withdrawals remained common.
• Only five U.S. CCS projects were injecting through Class VI wells at end-Q1 2026.
• Critics explicitly question oversight rigor and project economics.

The story is no longer just about Texas gaining Class VI primacy; it now emphasizes the operational challenge of scaling a state-run permitting system to handle an active CCS queue under Safe Drinking Water Act standards. The framing shifts from transfer of authority to execution capacity and review quality.

Texas has taken over Class VI carbon storage permitting from the EPA, and the new state-led process is already drawing a sizable queue of CCS applications across the Permian Basin and Gulf Coast.