The IOGCC Carbon Capture and Geologic Storage Task Force (Task Force) has been addressing the legal and regulatory issues surrounding the capture and storage of anthropogenic sources of CO2 since its inception in 2002.  Its membership has included IOGCC member states and international affiliates, state and provisional oil and gas agencies, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), DOE-sponsored Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnerships, the Association of American State Geologists (AASG), and the oil and natural gas industry.

Early in 2005, the Task Force completed Phase I of the project, funded by DOE and its National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) through a cooperative agreement with the University of Illinois.  The project consisted of an examination of the technical, policy, and regulatory issues related to the safe and effective storage of CO2 in subsurface geological media for both enhanced hydrocarbon recovery and long-term CO2 storage.

Phase II of the project, a cooperative agreement with the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (NMMT) and funded by the DOE and NMMT, consisted of a more in-depth examination of the legal and regulatory aspects surrounding the storage of CO2 in geologic media.  The study results, Storage of Carbon Dioxide in Geologic Structures, A Legal and Regulatory Guide for States and Provinces, was published in September 2007.  It presented model legislation and regulations for use by states.  This legal and regulatory framework is providing states and provinces with an excellent foundation for the development of rules, regulations, and statutes regarding CO2 storage.  Phase II work, scheduled for completion in 2009, includes further work to disseminate and explain the document to a wide audience as well as further regulatory work with the pilot projects and testing the model documents for additional refinement.

Phase III of the project, currently under development, would address those issues that the Task Force believes remain as barriers to the establishment of state and federal legal and regulatory frameworks capable of providing prospective project developers with the certainty necessary to more forward.