California Resources Corporation has started injecting CO2 underground at its Carbon TerraVault I project in Kern County, making it the state's first operational carbon capture and storage site. The project stores captured CO2 from a gas plant more than a mile below ground in depleted oil and gas reservoirs. It received final Class VI permits from the EPA, a key regulatory step for long-term geologic storage. The 26R reservoir can store up to 1.61 million tons of CO2 per year, with total capacity of about 41.9 million tons. CRC has committed over $1 million to local community programs and plans to form a Community Advisory Council. The project is a test case for California's climate strategy, which relies on CCS for hard-to-abate industrial emissions alongside broader clean energy deployment. Skeptics note that CCS must not become an excuse to avoid cutting emissions at the source. The project's long-term success depends on monitoring, transparency, and public trust. If it proves safe and scalable, it could pave the way for a larger storage network across the state.
