Strategic Biofuels Completes Application for Class VI Injection Well Permit with EPA & LDNR for the Louisiana Green Fuels Project
COLUMBIA, La.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Strategic Biofuels, the leader in developing negative carbon footprint renewable fuels plants, announced today that it has completed the filing of its Class VI Carbon Sequestration Well Permit Application with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources (LDNR). The Class VI application fully integrated the extensive data collected during the 2021 drilling and testing of the Company’s Louisiana Green Fuels Class V Stratigraphic Test Well, thorough geological and geophysical mapping of the region, and state-of-the-art reservoir, geo-mechanical, and plume expansion modeling.
Strategic Biofuels COO Bob Meredith commented “Rigorous subsurface research, data collection, and advanced engineering and software modeling have demonstrated that we can safely and permanently sequester all of the carbon dioxide generated during renewable fuel and green power production at our Louisiana Green Fuels Project in Caldwell Parish. Completing this application for the EPA Class VI Permit accomplishes another major milestone for our Project. The application is massive and its submission is the culmination of nearly two years of relentless dedication of our outstanding LGF Project team of experts and that of our valued partners at Geostock Sandia.”
EPA has confirmed receipt of the completed application and that its review is underway. Once the application is approved, the Project will move forward with the drilling of three injection wells and several reservoir monitoring wells. Simultaneously, construction of the renewable diesel refinery and its adjacent power plant will begin. Once complete the Project will produce the most deeply carbon-negative liquid fuel in the world and operate completely “off the grid”. The company has worked closely with both the EPA and the LDNR, which have concurrently received the Class VI Permit Application. It is possible that the Class VI Permit will be ultimately granted by the LDNR, which has applied to the EPA for “primacy,” which would be a grant of authority by the EPA to the State of Louisiana to issue such Class VI permits.
Steve Walkinshaw, Vice President of Geosciences for Strategic Biofuels, said “Only a few deep wells have penetrated the proposed sequestration reservoirs in the Project area, which are not faulted. Other than the Company’s Test Well, all of those deep wells will be outside the plume area for decades and will be converted to closely-watched reservoir monitoring wells, essentially eliminating the possibility of leakage of the sequestered CO2 from any of them. This makes the Caldwell Parish location an optimal site for carbon dioxide sequestration.” The security of the storage reservoir has been further enhanced by Caldwell Parish-specific legislation signed into law last year that will prohibit third party drilling through the impervious shales that will form the top seal of the CO2 reservoirs.
Dan Collins, Vice President of Geosciences for Geostock Sandia said “We are proud to have worked with Strategic Biofuels on this project since its very inception, when we provided a preliminary assessment of the Caldwell Parish site’s suitability for sequestration. It is exciting to see that early evaluation transformed into a full permit application comprising over 15,000 pages of highly technical data and analysis and supporting documentation.”
Since its formation in 2020, Strategic Biofuels and its LGF Project team have made substantial progress demonstrating the proposed plant’s ability to achieve deep carbon negativity, which is highly dependent on the ability to annually sequester nearly 1.4 million metric tons of CO2 that will be a byproduct of the renewable diesel fuel refinery process and the green power generated to operate the plant. Strategic Biofuels’ strategy of drilling and testing the critically important Class V Stratigraphic Test Well at the beginning of the Project distinguishes it from most other proposed sequestration projects in Louisiana. Others have submitted Class VI permit applications without having drilled and tested the stratigraphic test wells that provide the reams of actual onsite geologic data needed to most accurately model and predict the behavior of the injected carbon dioxide in the reservoir over time. Data available only from a Stratigraphic Test Well, drilled for that purpose, has allowed for a more robust and more complete application.
This milestone follows closely on other major milestones recently achieved by Strategic Biofuels, including the Groundbreaking Ceremony for construction of infrastructure improvements at the Port of Columbia, the licensing of Johnson Matthey-bp’s advanced Fischer-Tropsch technology, and last week’s announcement that it has been invited by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Loan Programs Office (LPO) to submit a Part II application for a proposed $1.6 billion loan guarantee under the Title XVII Innovative Clean Energy Loan Guarantee Program.
For more information about Strategic Biofuels and the Louisiana Green Fuels Project, visit: www.strategicbiofuels.com.
About Strategic Biofuels
Strategic Biofuels LLC is a team of O&G, petrochemical and renewable technology experts focused on developing a series of deeply negative carbon footprint plants in northern Louisiana that convert waste materials from managed forests into renewable diesel fuel and renewable naphtha. The fuel qualifies for substantial Carbon Credits under the Federal Renewable Fuel Standard Program and under the California Low Carbon Fuels Standard.
About Louisiana Green Fuels
Louisiana Green Fuels is the first project by Strategic Biofuels LLC in North Louisiana at the Port of Columbia in Caldwell Parish. The plant and its accompanying Class VI Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS) Well will be the first renewable diesel project in North America to achieve “negative” carbon emissions. The feedstock for the plant is forestry waste from managed and sustainable forests.
About Geostock Sandia
Geostock Sandia, LLC is a preeminent supplier of underground storage and subsurface injection services in North America and Mexico. The company combines industry leadership in the design, construction, operation, and maintenance of underground storage facilities with proven, innovative permitting, engineering, and field services in subsurface injection of liquid and gaseous fluids.
Contacts
Hunter Dodson
512-448-4950
hdodson@piercom.com
