Webinar Series: Real-World Lessons from Class VI Projects
Our webinar series continues to feature practitioners working on active Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) Class VI projects to share real-world insight from permitting through early injection readiness. Sessions focus on regulatory coordination, monitoring expectations, and managing public comment, grounded in lessons from projects currently moving forward.
Designed for technical and regulatory professionals, the series provides practical clarity around Class VI project development, highlighting what teams should expect at each stage and where common challenges arise.
- Live, project-driven perspectives
- Focused on implementation, not theory
- Applicable across permitting, subsurface, and compliance teams
Webinar 5: Class VI Monitoring Strategies – Insights from Permitted Projects
Reservoir monitoring is a critical component of Class VI geologic carbon storage projects, providing assurance that injected CO₂ remains within the permitted storage complex, reservoir performance aligns with expectations, and potential environmental impacts are identified and addressed. While Class VI regulations establish monitoring objectives, they provide flexibility in the selection of monitoring technologies and approaches. As a result, a common set of monitoring tools and strategies has emerged across permit applications and is increasingly viewed as the industry standard.
Experience from permitted and operating projects, however, has demonstrated that monitoring programs must be tailored to site-specific conditions, project objectives, and stakeholder considerations. Some commonly proposed monitoring approaches can carry significant costs, operational complexity, and landowner impacts, creating a need to evaluate alternative strategies that achieve regulatory and technical objectives more efficiently.
Drawing on lessons learned from Class VI projects with active injection operations, this presentation explores both deep subsurface and near-surface monitoring approaches and how they are being applied in practice. The session will discuss strategies for meeting regulatory requirements, managing technical uncertainty, reducing monitoring costs, and minimizing impacts to landowners while maintaining confidence in storage performance. Attendees will gain practical insight into how monitoring programs are evolving based on operational experience, including approaches for building flexibility into Class VI monitoring plans to reduce the need for future permit modifications as projects mature.
About the Speakers
Amanda Livers-Douglas, Assistant Director for Integrated Subsurface Projects, Energy and Environmental Research Center
Amanda Livers Douglas serves as the Assistant Director for Integrated Subsurface Projects at the Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC), where she brings extensive expertise in CO₂ utilization and storage. Her work focuses on geologic site characterization, monitoring strategies, and regulatory compliance. Amanda has managed the site characterization and permitting phases of multiple commercial carbon capture and storage projects, including two that are currently operational. She holds an M.S. in Geology from the University of Kansas and a B.A. in Physics from Concordia College.
Carly Sowecke, PG, Senior Geologist, Trihydro
Carly Sowecke is the team leader of Trihydro’s Underground Injection Control (UIC) team and a geologist with 15 years of experience in the environmental and oil and gas sectors. Her expertise includes Class I, II, and VI injection well permitting, baseline environmental monitoring, UIC project development, oil and gas development, and environmental remediation. She currently supports UIC projects across the carbon sequestration, geothermal, and industrial wastewater sectors, helping clients navigate permitting, monitoring, and project development challenges. Carly holds an M.S. in Geology from the University of Wyoming and a B.S. in Geology from Stanford University.
Information on Past Sessions
Webinar 1 – Deep Wells, Deep Rules: Class VI Permitting, Texas-Style
Presented by Adam Haecker, P.G., Director of Geoscience at Milestone Carbon, took a detailed look at how Class VI permitting is implemented under Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) primacy. Attendees gained insight into how the Texas framework differs from the federal USEPA approach and what operators should expect when pursuing CO₂ sequestration projects in Texas. Connect with us for more information about this past session.
Webinar 2 – Deep Injection, Real Consequences: Permian Basin Lessons for Class VI Wells
Presented by Katie Smye, Research Associate Professor and Principal Investigator of the Center for Injection and Seismicity Research, University of Texas at Austin, discussed how decades of large-scale wastewater injection in the Permian Basin have created a real-world testing ground for understanding subsurface pressure behavior and seismic response. Disposal volumes exceeding 16 million barrels per day have resulted in induced seismicity, pressure effects extending far from injection zones, and interactions with dense networks of legacy wells. This presentation examined how these field observations shape Class VI project risk, site selection, and monitoring strategies, particularly in complex, heavily developed basins. Connect with us for more information about this past session.
Webinar 3 – When Class VI Meets the Rig: Lessons You Only Learn in the Field
Presented by Ben Pittsley, CEO of Summit Engineering, discussed how Class VI projects are often discussed from a permitting or modeling perspective, but execution in the field introduces a different set of challenges. Insights from drilling and completing Class VI wells were shared, focusing on the practical realities that emerge once a rig is on location. Additionally, ways to anticipate operational risks, coordinate subsurface design with field execution, and avoid common pitfalls during well delivery were also covered. Connect with us for more information about this past session.
Webinar 4 – Executing CCUS Projects in the U.S. Ethanol Industry: Keys to Success for Class VI Deployment
Presented by Tim Eggeman, PHD, PE, Chief Technology Officer, New Phase Energy, this session focused on how multidisciplinary teams can navigate evolving requirements, manage risk, and keep business, technical, and community priorities aligned. Attendees took away practical insight into how permitting timelines, subsurface conditions, and capital needs shape project outcomes, along with a grounded framework for advancing CCUS projects in the ethanol industry. Connect with us for more information about this past session.
