Carbon Capture & CO2 Sequestration in Texas
What Texas landowners should know about underground carbon storage, land interests: state leasing, wells, water and public records.
Carbon capture projects inject carbon dioxide deep underground for long-term storage. For a landowner, the practical questions are the ordinary ones: whose land, whose pore space, whose minerals, which wells, which agency, and where the records are.
The regulatory picture in Texas changed recently, so anything you read that predates late 2025 may describe a system that no longer applies.
Who permits the wells
CO2 is stored using Class VI injection wells, a category under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act's Underground Injection Control program.
For years those wells in Texas were permitted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. That is no longer the case. The Railroad Commission of Texas received Class VI primacy from the EPA effective December 15, 2025, making the RRC the primary permitting authority for Class VI wells in Texas.
The Texas Legislature had built toward this for years: it established a framework for geologic storage of anthropogenic CO2 in 2009, and in 2021 consolidated state jurisdiction over the Class VI program under the Railroad Commission.
Sources written before December 2025 often say Texas is seeking Class VI primacy, or that the EPA permits these wells in Texas. That was accurate at the time and is now out of date. Check the date on anything you read about CO2 well permitting in Texas.
More than one agency is involved
It is a mistake to assume a single agency handles everything about a carbon project.
- Railroad Commission of Texas: permits Class VI wells for geologic storage of CO2 in Texas.
- Texas Commission on Environmental Quality: a Class VI permit applicant is required to include a letter of determination from TCEQ with the application to the RRC. TCEQ also administers other injection well classes.
- Texas General Land Office: a landowner in its own right, leasing for CO2 sequestration where GLO-managed land is involved. The GLO is not the permitting agency for these wells.
- U.S. EPA: retains an oversight role following primacy, reviewing the state program.
Most carbon storage activity in Texas does not occur on GLO land. Do not assume a project involves state land, or that the GLO has approved anything, simply because the subject is energy.
Leasing on state land
Where GLO-managed land is involved, the General Land Office engages in leasing covering CO2 sequestration, water and produced water, and geothermal energy. Its published processes differ by category: CO2 sequestration through a Request for Proposals; water and produced water through direct negotiation; and geothermal through direct negotiation for State and Federal institutions and sealed bid for others.
What a landowner may actually encounter
Carbon projects touch land interests that many owners have never had to think about, pore space beneath the surface, the relationship between the surface and mineral estates, pipeline easements to move CO2, and monitoring wells. If someone approaches you about any of it, the agreement in front of you is a property instrument first and an energy matter second.
Useful groundwork before you respond to anyone:
- Pull your deed and check for recorded reservations and easements severed minerals change the picture considerably.
- Understand how eminent domain may interact with associated infrastructure.
- Check the water rights position, since injection and monitoring involve protection of underground drinking water sources.
- Use the research tools gateway to work out which agency and which records apply.
We do not advise on individual agreements, and nothing here is a substitute for a lawyer reviewing a document before you sign it.
Researching a specific project
Keep the conclusion proportional to the evidence. An application is not a permit, and a permit is not an operating facility. Each of those is a different record.
- Get the project or operator name from the notice, letter or agenda that prompted your question.
- Check the Railroad Commission for Class VI applications, permits and public notices for CO2 geologic storage.
- Determine the land classification: private, state or federal. Only then does GLO leasing become relevant.
- Check the county clerk for recorded easements, agreements and mineral reservations affecting the tract.
- Watch for public comment opportunities. The RRC issues notices and can hold public meetings on intended issuance of storage permits. Deadlines are real and short.
Texas Homestead Law provides educational information and links to official records. Public records and agency databases are research tools and do not independently establish legal boundaries: title, mineral ownership, permit status or project status for a specific property. We are not affiliated with the Railroad Commission of Texas, TCEQ, the Texas General Land Office, the EPA or any other agency, and we do not provide legal, environmental, engineering or investment advice.
Sources & references
The Railroad Commission of Texas Geologic Storage of Carbon Dioxide page states that the RRC received Class VI primacy from the EPA effective December 15, 2025, and describes the 2009 Texas framework for geologic storage of anthropogenic CO2 and the 2021 consolidation of state Class VI jurisdiction under the Commission. The RRC also announced the EPA's approval of the state's primacy application.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality's Class VI letter of determination page confirms that the Railroad Commission regulates Class VI injection wells and that a Class VI permit application to the RRC must include a letter of determination from TCEQ.
The Texas General Land Office CO2 sequestration, water and geothermal energy leasing page is the source for the leasing categories and their respective processes.
Regulatory authority, permitting procedures and agency roles change. Confirm current requirements with the responsible agency. Reviewed August 10, 2026.