The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has approved a permit allowing carbon dioxide to be injected and stored underground at the Cardinal Ethanol facility in Randolph County, Indiana.
The order, first reported by The Wall Street Journal and confirmed by a White House official, comes as the administration plans to repeal the endangerment finding, a landmark climate ruling that determined greenhouse gases pose a threat to public health.
With another federal deadline only weeks away and record-low snowfall further drying out the watershed, states have begun talking about whether they are prepared for litigation.
Western ski resorts and state water agencies are increasingly turning to cloud seeding as drought continues to shrink snowpack and strain water supplies across the Rockies.
Both sites contain encapsulated uranium mill tailings managed under the Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act and date back to Cold War-era uranium production for the U.S. government.