Summary/Abstract
Carbon dioxide removal (“CDR”) will be needed, alongside emissions reductions, to achieve global climate objectives. One such technique is coastal enhanced weathering (“CEW”), which looks to accelerate the natural processes of weathering of alkaline-rich rocks to remove and sequester carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This natural weathering process occurs slowly — over centuries to millennia — but scientists have suggested the possibility of speeding it up by finely grinding alkaline rocks and spreading them in the coastal zone, where the natural wave and tidal forces will catalyze weathering. As the alkaline rocks weather, they convert carbonic acid present in the ocean into carbonate and bicarbonate ions, reducing the acidity of the ocean and increasing its ability to uptake additional carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. However, CEW presents a number of challenges and risks that require further research before deployment at scale can occur.
There is interest in advancing CEW research, and potentially deployment, in Massachusetts but that could raise a host of complex legal issues. There are currently no U.S. federal or state laws that specifically address CEW projects in Massachusetts. However, CEW projects in the state may be regulated under various water pollution control laws and other general environmental laws. Since these laws were developed with other activities in mind, there is often uncertainty as to whether, when, and how they will apply to CEW projects. This white paper reviews the U.S. federal and state laws that could apply to CEW projects in Massachusetts, as part of a broader Sabin Center project exploring the role of U.S. states in regulating CDR activities. As elaborated in the paper, the applicability of these laws will depend on a number of factors, including exactly where a CEW project occurs and the precise activities involved.