Ala. Admin. Code r. 400-8-1-.55

Current through Register Vol. 43, No. 3, December 31, 2024

Section 400-8-1-.55 - [Effective 1/11/2025] Petition for Approval of the Facility Closure Final Assessment

Within ninety days of completing all post-injection site care and facility closure requirements, the storage operator shall petition the Board for approval of the closure of the storage facility and shall submit a final assessment to the Board. The storage operator shall pay a fee to the Board in the amount of Fifteen Thousand Dollars ($15,000.00) for the petition.

1. In support of the petition, the storage operator must submit:

a. The results of computational modeling performed pursuant to delineation of the area of review;

b. The predicted timeframe for pressure decline within the injection zone, and any other zones, such that formation fluids may not be forced into any underground sources of drinking water or the timeframe for pressure decline to pre-injection pressures;

c. The predicted rate of carbon dioxide plume migration within the injection zone and the predicted timeframe for the cessation of migration;

d. A description of the site-specific processes that will result in carbon dioxide trapping, including immobilization by capillary trapping, dissolution, and mineralization at the site;

e. The predicted rate of carbon dioxide trapping in the immobile capillary phase, dissolved phase, or mineral phase;

f. The results of relevant laboratory analyses, research studies, or field or site-specific studies.

g. A characterization of the confining zone, including a demonstration that it is free of transmissive faults, fractures, and microfractures, and an evaluation of thickness, permeability, and integrity to impede fluid (e.g., carbon dioxide, formation fluids) movement;

h. The presence of potential conduits for fluid movement, including planned injection wells and project subsurface observation wells associated with the proposed geologic sequestration project;

i. A description of the well construction and an assessment of the quality of plugs of all abandoned wells within the storage facility area and the area of review;

j. The distance between the injection zone and the nearest underground source of drinking water above and below the injection zone; and

k. An assessment of the operations conducted during the operational period, including the volumes injected, volumes extracted, all chemical analyses conducted, and a summary of all monitoring efforts.

l. The report must also document the stored carbon dioxide's location and characteristics and predict how it might move during the post-closure period;

m. Any additional factors specific to the particular site that the Board may require.

2. Information submitted to support the petition shall comply with the following criteria:

a. All analyses and tests for the final assessment must be accurate, reproducible, and performed in accordance with the established quality assurance standards. An approved quality assurance and quality control plan must address all aspects of the final assessment;

b. Estimation techniques must be appropriate and test protocols certified by the United States Environmental Protection Agency must be used where available;

c. Predictive models must be appropriate and tailored to the site conditions, composition of the carbon dioxide stream, and injection and site conditions over the life of the geologic sequestration project;

d. Predictive models must be calibrated using existing information when sufficient data are available;

e. Reasonably conservative values and modeling assumptions must be used and disclosed to the Board whenever values are estimated on the basis of known, historical information instead of site-specific measurements;

f. An analysis must be performed to identify and assess aspects of the post-injection monitoring timeframe demonstration that contribute significantly to uncertainty. The storage operator shall conduct sensitivity analyses to determine the effect that significant uncertainty may contribute to the modeling demonstration; and

g. Any additional criteria required by the Board.

3. At the time of the closing, the storage operator shall record a plat of the storage facility certified by a registered surveyor in the Office of the Judge of Probate in the county where the storage facility lies. The storage operator shall also submit a copy of the plat to the United States Environmental Protection Agency regional administrator office.

Ala. Admin. Code r. 400-8-1-.55

Adopted by Alabama Administrative Monthly Volume XLIII, Issue No. 02, November 27, 2024, eff. 1/11/2025.

Author: S. Marvin Rogers

Statutory Authority: 9-17-150 et seq. of the Code of Alabama (1975)