An example of a carbon injection well that inserts carbon dioxide emissions deep underground for permanent storage. Ohio Senate Bill 136 seeks to give the Ohio Department of Natural Resource’s Oil and Gas Division “sole and exclusive authority to regulate carbon sequestration and the operation of storage facilities in the state.”
(File photo courtesy of Tenaska)File photo courtesy of Tenaska
Dr. Randi Pokladnik
According to section 1509.72 of proposed Senate Bill 136, Ohio’s Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Oil and Gas Resources would have “sole and exclusive authority to regulate carbon sequestration and the operation of storage facilities in the state.” Like West Virgina, Ohio would gain primacy (primary authority) from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s Underground Injection Control Department, which currently regulates Class VI carbon injection storage wells. Federal legislation for Class VI wells was established in 2010, and since then, less than 30 wells nationally have received permits, and only two wells are operational. There are 33 Class VI well applications pending for Ohio.
According to the bill’s proposed section 1509.76 (A), “if a storage operator has obtained the consent of owners of at least 70 per cent of the pore space proposed to be used in a storage facility,” the remaining 30% of landowners can be forced into a pore space lease. Ohio’s Real Estate Disclosure Laws require a home seller to disclose anything that could be “dangerous to occupants.” How will storing CO2 at supercritical pressures of 1,000 pounds per square inch (psi) under private property affect one’s ability to sell their home, obtain insurance, and enter into future oil and gas leases?
There are no Class VI CO2 storage wells in operation in Ohio; no industries or power plants retrofitted to capture CO2; and no pipelines to transport 1000 psi CO2. Granting primacy to the ODNR for CO2 wells is especially worrisome, given the current lawsuit filed against ODNR’s permitting process of Class II oil and gas brine injection wells near Marietta. Residents are concerned that brine wells, proposed less than two miles from the city’s drinking water source, could pollute their water.
Class VI CO2 wells can also affect drinking water sources. A 2013 report by the U.S. EPA, “Geologic Sequestration of Carbon Dioxide,” noted Class VI wells risked “impairing drinking water quality through changes in pH, contamination by trace impurities in the injectate (e.g., mercury, hydrogen sulfide), and leaching of metals and/or organics” into drinking water sources. When combined with water, carbon dioxide creates carbonic acid. Many minerals are soluble in acidic solutions. This process is similar to what is causing ocean acidification.
In April 2025, the Illinois State Senate unanimously approved a bill to limit the storage of CO2 under the Mahomet Aquifer. This was in response to recent accidents at the Archer Daniels Midland Class VI well. The Mahomet Aquifer is the sole-source aquifer for the region and a drinking water source for over 1 million people.
Class VI wells can also leak CO2 back into the atmosphere, and pipelines can rupture, as was the case in Sataria, Mississippi, where 45 people were transported to a local hospital after a pipeline broke in 2020. Leakage can occur at the well pad due to injection well failure, undetected faults, fractures, seal failure, poor site selection, poor preparation, and mineral dissolution. ODNR maps of Ohio’s counties show thousands of orphan oil wells, fracking wells, and Class II waste brine wells, all of which can serve as a path of least resistance for pressurized CO2.
In May, the U.S. Department of Energy cut $3.7 billion from 24 taxpayer-funded energy projects, many of which were carbon capture projects, stating that “they did not meet the economic, national security or energy security standards necessary to sustain DOE’s investment.”
Randi Pokladnik, Ph.D., is a board member of Ohio Valley Environmental Advocates. She writes from Uhrichsville.