HB 6247, introduced by Rep. Parker Fairbairn, would create a new state regulatory structure for projects that inject captured carbon dioxide into underground formations for long-term storage. The bill has been referred to the House Energy Committee and has not yet received a vote. One of its most consequential provisions for project developers is a 200-day processing period for a carbon sequestration project operating permit once the application period has closed.
Under Michigan's broader environmental permitting framework, that period begins after an application has been determined administratively complete and applicable fees have been paid. The proposal would not guarantee that every project receives approval within 200 days, but it would establish a defined state review window for a category of infrastructure that Michigan is positioning to regulate more directly.
Public Review Would Start Early in the Process
The proposed timeline does not eliminate public participation. HB 6247 would require the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy's Geologic Resources Management Division to hold a public hearing within 60 days of an application being deemed administratively complete. Notice would have to be provided at least 30 days before the hearing and sent to affected surface owners, pore-space owners, mineral-rights holders, and others near the proposed storage reservoir. Applications would also need extensive site information, including maps of proposed sequestration activities, baseline groundwater and soil-gas testing, and plans for protecting and monitoring groundwater and surface water. Baseline sampling would have to be completed within 180 days before an application is submitted. The framework comes as developers continue evaluating the Michigan Basin for commercial-scale carbon storage. Department of Energy-supported projects have examined storage opportunities in southeastern Michigan and around Midland, where one project is evaluating formations estimated to provide more than 4 million metric tons of CO₂ storage capacity per square mile.
Michigan Would Also Seek Its Own Class VI Authority
The legislation looks beyond the state operating permit too. Carbon dioxide injection wells used for geologic sequestration are regulated federally as Class VI wells under the Safe Drinking Water Act. In states without EPA-approved Class VI primacy, EPA reviews and issues those permits itself, a process several other states have already moved to take over directly rather than wait on federal review. HB 6247 would require Michigan to apply to EPA for authority to administer its own Class VI program within one year of the legislation taking effect. If eventually approved, that could bring more of the carbon-storage regulatory process under state administration, following a wave of federal approvals across other Midwest states already moving projects through the Class VI pipeline. The proposal also addresses what happens decades after a permit is issued. Operators generally would be responsible for post-injection monitoring for at least 50 years, unless regulators approve an alternative period based on federal requirements and site-specific evidence. Operators would pay an annual fee of up to $0.20 per metric ton of CO₂ injected, adjusted for inflation, to help fund long-term state monitoring and management.
Taken together, the provisions show Michigan attempting to build more than a permitting deadline. HB 6247 would establish rules spanning application review, public participation, monitoring, financing, and eventual project closure. That would give companies considering carbon storage in the state a clearer picture of the regulatory path from development through long-term stewardship, at a moment when execution speed has become the main competitive advantage separating carbon capture projects nationally.
