Washington (Platts)--31Jan2008

Members of the US Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on
Thursday suggested that the Environmental Protection Agency is not moving fast
enough to develop rules for capture and geologic storage of carbon dioxide
emissions after learning that such rules may not be ready until 2011.

At a hearing to discuss two bills designed to speed up commercialization
of carbon capture and storage technologies, EPA Assistant Administrator for
Water Benjamin Grumbles said the agency does not expect to have a final rule
governing the effects of underground CO2 storage on groundwater for another
four years.

Grumbles said, however, that the agency's schedule falls in line with the
US Department of Energy's roadmap, which projects full-scale CCS project
development occurring between 2012 and 2020.

EPA is charged with the task of developing the rules under the Safe
Drinking Water Act. The act, which Congress passed in 1974, protects public
health by regulating the US public drinking water supply. The law was amended
in 1986 and 1996 and requires that the agency act to protect drinking water
and its sources: rivers, lakes, reservoirs, springs and groundwater wells.

Senator Jon Tester, a Montana Democrat, asked DOE Assistant Secretary
for Fossil Energy James Slutz whether the department is operating with a sense
of urgency to move CCS technology into the marketplace.

Slutz told the senator that the agency believes speed is critical, adding
that while the US has technology capable of capturing CO2 emissions, the cost
of doing so is still too high to win acceptance in the market.

The committee scheduled the hearing to take testimony on two bills -- one
by Senator John Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat, and another by Norm Coleman,
a Minnesota Republican -- designed to advance CCS technology.

Slutz told the committee that he believes parts of Kerry's bill would
duplicate ongoing efforts, adding that the department already is working on a
CCS demonstration project and EPA has in place a task force to look into
possible CO2 regulations.

--Regina Johnson, regina_johnson@platts.com

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