The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency granted a company the first-ever permits in California to inject carbon dioxide (CO2) underground in an oilfield near Bakersfield.

The EPA announced Tuesday it had issued the permits to Carbon TerraVault JV Storage Company Sub 1, a subsidiary of California Resources Corporation, an independent energy company that is one of the state’s largest oil producers.

The permits allow four permanent CO2 storage wells drilled more than a mile deep into the Monterey Formation, an oil-rich sedimentary rock layer that is part of the Elk Hills Oil Field in Kern County. Companies are planning these wells across the country in an effort to capitalize on tax subsidies for carbon storage meant to keep CO2 out of the atmosphere and stop it from warming the climate.

The company plans to inject approximately 1.5 million metric tons per year of CO2 over 26 years, totaling almost 38 million metric tons. The CO2 would initially come from California Resources Corporation’s nearby gas treatment plant, though the company may add additional sources with EPA approval.

To prevent CO2 from squeezing out of old wells nearby, the EPA said it required the company to plug all 200 abandoned wells nearby. Abandoned wells provide one of the primary pathways for CO2 to migrate to the surface, undoing any climate benefit from the technology. Such wells are a serious concern in states like Louisiana and Texas, which have thousands of abandoned wells in areas targeted for CO2 injection.