EPA is proposing to hand over permitting and enforcement authority for Class VI underground injection wells to Alaska's Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. These wells are used for geologic carbon sequestration, which involves injecting captured CO2 deep underground. The change would affect all such wells in Alaska except those in Indian country or areas under exclusive federal jurisdiction.

In the agency’s own words

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or the Agency) has received a complete Underground Injection Control (UIC) application from the State of Alaska, requesting primary enforcement responsibility (primacy) for Class VI injection wells under Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) section 1422. The EPA's approval of the State's UIC program primacy application would allow the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (AOGCC) to issue and enforce compliance with UIC Class VI permits for injection wells used for geologic carbon sequestration. In this action, the EPA proposes to approve Alaska's application to implem…

Federal Register 2026-22085 ↗

The groups on this fight

4 groups predicted likely to care in Alaska

Predicted likely to care is a guess from the group's sourced work in Alaska, with no link to this decision. Give straight to them; nothing routes through us.

• Alaska Wilderness League

  Predicted likely to care · a guess

  Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska: Built around defending the Arctic Refuge from oil and gas drilling.

• Friends of Alaska National Wildlife Refuges

  Predicted likely to care · a guess

  Izembek National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska: Lead plaintiff in the November 2025 federal suit challenging the land exchange signed to put a road through the Izembek Wilderness.

• Northern Alaska Environmental Center

  Predicted likely to care · a guess

  Gates of the Arctic (Ambler Road), Alaska: First-named plaintiff in Northern Alaska Environmental Center v. Trump, the Ambler road suit filed in 2020.

• Southeast Alaska Conservation Council

  Predicted likely to care · a guess

  Tongass National Forest, Alaska: Southeast Alaska’s homegrown defender of the Tongass since 1970.

Every group above is on STAND for Public Lands, with its court record, its filings and who backs it.

Who signs it

The notice names no signer PLAN could read. PLAN names a decision-maker only when the document names one.

The ground

This fight isn’t bound to a map place in PLAN’s record yet. The notice names Alaska (statewide, excluding Indian country and exclusive federal jurisdiction areas) (AK); none is a unit on the threatened lands map, so there’s no place page to open or watch.

The photograph on this page: Caribou on foggy tundra. It’s the country this decision sits in, not the site itself. More Than Just Parks.

Who holds the vote

PLAN’s record doesn’t tie a member of Congress to this fight yet. The scorecard grades the votes and bills that decide public lands; nothing joins a vote or a bill to this decision, so there’s no member to name here without guessing.

Calling your two senators and your representative is the Call door on this page.