California approves low-carbon fuel standard
California’s Air Resources Board approved the nation’s first fuel standard that will seek to cut green house gas emissions by 10% by 2020. The regulations are the first in the nation and will be gradually phased in, starting January 1.
The measure was approved in a 9-1 vote late Thursday. The regulations seek to reduce 16 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually. In California transportation accounts for 40% of CO2 emissions.
While environmentalist strongly backed the measure, not surprisingly the oil and gas industry did not.
Catherine Reheis-Boyd, executive director of the Western States Petroleum Association lobbying group pointed out that as is there are not enough biofuels available to meet the demands of the new regulation. “It’s hard to comply with a regulation when we don’t have any other fuel to blend with ours to reduce its carbon intensity,” she told The San Jose Mercury News.
The new regulation was also opposed by the corn-based ethanol industry, which complained the measures gave ethanol a poor emissions score. Ethanol, environmentalists have argued, that producing corn-based ethanol requires lots of energy and displaces food crop, driving prices. There is also concern that pushing demand for corn would result in pristine land being displaced to grow corn.
General Wesley Clark, a co-chair of the pro-ethanol group Growth Energy, said “this was a poor decision, based on shaky science.”
Roland Hwang, a program director at the Natural Resources Defense Council said that “instead of fighting… the ethanol industry [should] face this challenge with the same spirit of innovation that makes California the center of clean-tech investment.”
