Summary/Abstract
This Instruction Memorandum (IM) conveys policy and direction for authorizing rights-of-way (ROWs) to use public lands for site characterization, transportation, injection, capture, and geologic sequestration of carbon dioxide (CO2) at appropriately classified injection well locations in connection with CO2 sequestration projects. This includes authorizing the use of pore space managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) when surface facilities, including injection wells, are on private or state-owned lands or lands managed by another Federal agency. When authorizing any carbon sequestration projects on public lands, the BLM should issue ROWs under Title V of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA), as amended, 43 USC 1761 et seq. These ROWs should appropriately address construction, operation, maintenance, and termination of surface facilities required to inject CO2 for permanent geologic sequestration. The BLM should similarly issue Title V ROWs when authorizing the occupation of federal pore space during and after injection operations. This IM is part of a comprehensive strategy to combat climate change and reduce CO2 levels in the atmosphere and applies only to BLM-administered lands.