Earth Day 2021 Series Day 16: How Can Renewable Fuels Enhance Environmental Justice? How about Cleaner Air and Lower Fuel Costs for Regular Cars for Many Years to Come?

Earth Day 2021 Energy (DOE)Federal Agency/Executive Branch Opinions Original Writing, Opinions Advanced Biofuels USA Policy Teacher Resources What You Can Do

April 16, 2021

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by Joanne Ivancic* (Advanced Biofuels USA) First proposed in 2015, Advanced Biofuels USA’s proposal for a “Disappearing” Non-Renewable-Carbon User Fee begins: “If we’re serious about reducing climate change-causing greenhouse gases and reducing non-renewable liquid and gas use, we need serious actions.” And those actions should serve low income, high pollution areas that have suffered environmental injustices.

The first steps needed are:

Including the price of GHG effects in the pricing of renewable and non-renewable fuels.
Committing serious money to focused renewable fuel research and infrastructure development.

The simplest and fastest way to accomplishing this is adding a Non-Renewable-Carbon User Fee to the portion of liquid transportation fuels and natural gas made from non-renewable sources.

The fee would be designed to disappear as renewable fuels replace non-renewable ones because only the non-renewable portion would be taxed.

Departing significantly from a number of current legislative proposals, Advanced Biofuels USA proposes that the fees be used to further the replacement of fossil fuels with renewable ones rather than being distributed back to the populace. The intent is that people who need the more affordable, cleaner, less polluting fuel with a smaller carbon footprint would reap those benefits directly. And, by funding research, development and deployment, the pace of replacing fossil fuel with renewables will accelerate.

Thus, the fees should be used in only two ways.

Renewable Fuel R&D: An immediate Apollo-type program should be funded with between 50% and 60% of the fees. It should be administered by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and be focused on getting non-food biomass fuels and gases into the pipeline in less than seven years. A sustainable renewable fuel industry will not only cut petroleum imports and tremendously reduce US oil and gas extraction damage, but more important, create good jobs in research labs, rural towns, and urban manufacturing plants and converted refineries.

Renewable Fuel Infrastructure: The upgraded fuel pumps and decentralized processing/distribution modules would be funded with between 40% and 50% of the fees. These programs would be run by the states with funding available via the existing USDA Higher Blends Infrastructure Incentive Program, or HBIIP grant program. States know what the needs are and the most effective ways to address them. Priority should go to low income and high pollution areas, rural and urban, and could include facilitating use of sustainable aviation fuel, as well.

Collection of the Non-Renewable Carbon User Fee

The collection of this user fee would not require new bureaucracies. Existing consumer point-of-sale fuel and utility tax collections systems would be used.

Environmental Justice Considerations: Real, Practical, Visible Benefit to People Who Need It Most.

A tax on the non-renewable portion of gasoline makes transition to less expensive, more renewable fuel a real option. As the proceeds from the tax expand the infrastructure (pumps, engine design/production) to optimize availability and use of greater portions of ethanol, biodiesel, renewable diesel, renewable natural gas or other components in the fuel, everyone should have more renewable choices. Market forces will enhance demand for more renewable fuels (including more renewable electricity for EVs).

In anticipation of the increased fee on non-renewable portions of fuel, fuel retailers could begin offering a wider variety of high proportions of renewable fuels even before the fees go into effect.

If low income and poor air quality areas get priority for upgraded fuel pumps, then cleaner, less-polluting and less expensive options will benefit those most in need of these advantages of renewable fuels.

This will also accomplish the goal of getting cleaner fuel at lower prices to people who will be driving liquid-fueled vehicles now and for many years to come.

This graphic from the US Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration clearly shows that even in 2050, a great many people will be driving liquid-fueled vehicles.

Shouldn’t the fuel in those vehicles be as clean, green and affordable as possible? Especially when logic tells you that the people who have not even low, but also moderate-incomes, will be the ones driving older, liquid-fueled vehicles for many years to come.

We also expect that long haul and heavy duty vehicles will run on liquid fuels. These are the vehicles that cause complaints of high pollution around ports and on highways, areas less likely inhabited by the more wealthy.

Using the non-renewable-carbon user fee will assure less polluting, less expensive fuel to replace the motor gasoline and distillate fuel oil (in brown in the above illustration).

It will improve the emissions from older vehicles until the market or policy provides for newer, more efficient, high octane/high ethanol engines options and until electric vehicles become available, affordable, powered by renewables using fair trade batteries.

Ethanol blends are cheaper? For examples of price comparisons in the US of current regular gasoline (E10) and high ethanol blends (E15, E30, E85), see the website E85Prices (https://e85prices.com/).

Engines and Systems Optimized for Renewables

In turn, this policy will spur auto manufacturers to build and sell the next generation/E30 optimized vehicles with improved mileage and performance.

Similarly, fleets would see benefits by transitioning diesel vehicles to use renewable diesel or biodiesel blends; and will find benefits of transitioning to renewable natural gas (RNG or rCNG) fuels.

Electric vehicles would also experience the benefits as fossil power transitions to renewables.

The fees will also fund research and development to assure supplies of sustainable, renewable transportation fuels made from feedstocks ranging from used cooking oil, algae, and municipal waste to agricultural and forest wastes and residues, and from purpose-grown feedstocks, winter or cover crops and treated flue gases.

What Can You Do?

--Download and read Updated Non-Renewable Carbon User Fee for Fuels (Disappearing Gas Tax) August 2019

--Help others understand the US government projection of continued need for liquid fuels well past 2050. Let them know the importance of decreasing the carbon footprint of those liquid fuels and that it is possible with renewables.

--Contact your members of Congress, Senators and President in the US; and your representatives in government in other parts of the world, to express your support for a fee on the non-renewable portions of transportation fuel.

Click here for more Earth Day 2021 posts

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*Joanne Ivancic serves as the executive director of Advanced Biofuels USA.

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Fossil Fuel Racism: How Phasing Out Oil, Gas, and Coal Can Protect Communities (Greenpeace)