RFA Urges Low-Carbon/Clean Fuel Standard for Colorado Emissions Reduction

(Renewable Fuels Association) The internal combustion engine is “far from dead—the fuel just needs to be changed” with a low-carbon or clean fuel standard that can help Colorado slash greenhouse gas pollution, the Renewable Fuels Association told the Colorado Energy Office after it released a draft roadmap toward GHG pollution reduction.

“A properly designed, fuel neutral, LCFS or Clean Fuel Standard encourages GHG reductions via market forces,” RFA Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Kelly Davis wrote in comments submitted Friday. “LCFS/CFS programs are already in effect in California, Oregon and British Columbia, and have been discussed in other parts of the U.S., including Washington, New York and the upper Midwest. A science-based standard can drive technological innovation, stimulate investment in clean energy, reduce climate change emissions from the transportation sector, and decrease fossil fuel consumption.”

Davis also noted these programs “enable an increasingly diverse fuel supply, thus creating competition, encouraging innovation and developing greater market opportunities while improving air quality.” READ MORE

Excerpt from Ethanol Producer Magazine: For transportation, the roadmap identifies three primary policy transitions that would be needed: Transitioning to close to 100 percent electric cars by 2050 and 100 percent market share for new vehicles sales of zero emissions trucks and buses by 2050; adopting lower carbon fuels, including advanced biofuels, renewable natural gas (RNG), and hydrogen for aviation and some heavy trucks; and expanding efforts in public transit, transportation demand management, and wise land use planning to reduce vehicle miles traveled.

For the waste sector, the roadmap calls for the state to create RNG incentives to help reduce emissions from landfills, sewage treatment plants, and agriculture.

In developing the roadmap, state agencies considered the implementation of a Clean Fuels Standard, but did not recommend that the CFS be part of the near-term action agenda for the state. Rather, the roadmap suggests further evaluation of a CFS.

The roadmap indicates that the Colorado Energy Office conducted a feasibility study in fiscal year 2019-’20 that examined a range of clean fuel standard scenarios that would achieve reductions in carbon intensity of up to 20 percent over 10 years. While the study concluded that a CFS was feasible, the agency said many questions remain unanswered.

The Colorado Energy Office expressed concern about overlap or double counting emissions reductions from other light and heavy duty electrification efforts and from a CFS. In addition, the agency said modeling indicated that, at least for the first decade, the bulk of emission reductions would come from conventional biofuels. “The state has not had a comprehensive analysis or public process examining the tradeoffs involved with large scale use of conventional biofuels, so it seems premature to move forward with a CFS,” the agency said in the roadmap. “In addition, the compliance cost for a CFS would likely be passed along to consumers of high carbon fuels such as gasoline and diesel. It might be more appropriate in the near term to look at revenue mechanisms that directly support adoption of zero emissions vehicles.” READ MORE