The Colorado Department of Natural Resources is inviting applications for the Geologic Storage Stewardship Enterprise Board. The call follows Governor Polis’s recent signing of HB25-1165, a law aimed at strengthening the state’s approach to carbon sequestration.
HB25-1165 establishes a framework for long-term oversight of carbon dioxide storage sites. The legislation sets up a dedicated fund, which will be financed by CO2 storage operators, to support this stewardship. Oversight and administration will be provided by a volunteer board.
According to the Department, “The Enterprise ensures carbon storage facilities are safe long into the future. It also advances our state’s climate goals, relieves state taxpayers of a burden to manage these sites, and provides certainty to operators.”
The board will have five members: the Chair of the Colorado Energy and Carbon Management Commission (ECMC), the ECMC Director or her designee, an individual with experience in geologic storage (preferably with actuarial science expertise related to long-term risk assessment), someone with environmental protection or public health experience, and an individual skilled in wellbore monitoring or technical stewardship fields.
Board terms will last three years each. For the first group of appointees, some terms will be shorter: one year for the geologic storage expert and two years for the environmental protection/public health expert.
Applications can be submitted online through the Colorado Department of Natural Resources website. Further details about application requirements are available from Aaron Ray, DNR Director of Policy.
