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Rule is Part of State's Controversial Greenhouse Gas Regulation Plan



By John O'Dell, Senior Editor

Despite an intense lobbying campaign from biofuel manufacturers, particularly in the ethanol industry, California's top air quality regulator approved the nation's first low-carbon fuel regulations Thursday, launching a plan that will require the carbon content of fuels used in the state to be reduced by10 percent by 2020.


The California Air Resources Board voted 9-1 to approve the new rule, which is likely to take months - or more - to fully implement and could well be subject to lengthy litigation by opponents who see it as biased against ethanol.


It is part of the state's effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions originating in California by 25 percent and is designed to encourage use of low- and no-carbon fuels such as natural gas, hydrogen and electricity and to slash use of gasoline for transportation in the state during the coming decade.


The measure also contains controversial (particularly to the ethanol industry) language that requires biofuels to be assessed not only on the carbon content of the fuel but the impact transporting the fuel and cultivating land for growing the fuels' feedstock - even in foreign countries - might have on total carbon output associated with the fuel.


Neither petroleum nor any of the other alternative fuels is subject to the same land-use analysis.


Other States To Follow


As with the state's more controversial bid to regulate automotive tailpipe emissions of greenhouse gases - typically done by increasing fuel economy to reduce the amount of carbon-based fuel burned per mile traveled - the measure is now likely to be adopted by as many as16 other states that have opted, under federal law, to follow California's emissions regulations rather than the more-lenient federal standards.


The auto and fuel industries believe that allowing some states to impose one set of rules while others follow a different set will impose incredible financial and logistic hardships on them at a time the economy is already severely depressed.
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Tags: Biofuels, Emissions, Ethanol, Legislation, Biofuels, California Air Resources Board, California Low Carbon Fuel Standard, Ethanol, LCFS

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California Regulators Approve World's First Low Carbon Fuels Standard was originally published by Green Car Advisor. Read the full story by clicking here.