What's New List Serve Post Display

Reg targets largest source of climate changing emissions in
California. 

Release 09-19
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 5, 2009
	  	  	
Stanley Young
916-956-7255
Dimitri Stanich
916-322-2825
www.arb.ca.gov

California proposes regulation targeting greenhouse gas
emissions from fuels

New standard would lead to the widespread production and
distribution of low-carbon fuels for vehicles

SACRAMENTO - Today the Air Resources Board released a proposed
regulation that would implement Governor Schwarzenegger's Low
Carbon Fuel Standard, a policy to reduce the greenhouse gas
emissions from California's transportation fuels by ten percent
by 2020 and more thereafter. Today's release of the proposed
regulation allows 45 days for the public to review the language
and provide comment before the item is considered at the April 23
ARB hearing.

The proposed regulation released today would diversify the
variety of fuels and boost the market for alternative-fuel
vehicles. It is one of the most important early actions called
for under AB 32, California's pioneering climate change
legislation, and will achieve 13.4 million metric tons of
greenhouse gas emission reductions by 2020.

"The real strength of this standard is that it takes a
comprehensive 'cradle to grave' approach that accounts for
greenhouse gas emissions from production, transport and tailpipe
emissions," said ARB Chairman Mary Nichols. "The new standard
will promote the development of alternative fuels that can
provide economic opportunities, slash greenhouse gas emissions,
and reduce criteria pollutants and toxic air contaminants. It
will help consumers by injecting competition into the
transportation fuel market and set California on a course to
benefit from technological innovation, energy diversification and
economic development."

Governor Schwarzenegger issued the LCFS Executive Order in early
2007 directing the state to drive down greenhouse gas emissions
from transportation fuels. The transportation sector alone
accounts for 40 percent of the state's total greenhouse gas
emissions. The initiative is designed to increase the use of
alternative fuels, replacing 20 percent of the fuel used by cars
in California with clean alternative fuels by 2020, including
electricity, biofuels, hydrogen and other options.

The proposed regulation requires providers, refiners, importers
and blenders to ensure that the fuels they provide for the
California market meet an average declining standard of
'carbon-intensity'. This is determined by examining the sum of
greenhouse gas emissions that are associated with the production,
transportation and consumption of the fuel, also referred to as
the 'fuel pathway'. Market-based mechanisms will allow fuel
suppliers to choose the most cost-effective clean fuels - those
with the lowest carbon intensity - giving California consumers
the widest variety of fuel options at a reasonable price.

While developing the regulation, ARB staff addressed the issue
of how the production of some fuels impact land-related
emissions. Certain fuel pathways result in the release of
additional greenhouse gas emissions through the conversion of
forestlands and other carbon-containing habitats worldwide. ARB
staff is using internationally-accepted models to predict how
land use change would occur due to increased demand and will
include those emissions in the relevant fuel pathways.

To enhance private sector and federal investment into
alternative fuel production and distribution, California is
providing funding to assist in the early development and
deployment of the most promising low-carbon fuels. The
Alternative and Renewable Fuel and Vehicle Technology Program
(AB118, Nunez, 2007), managed by the California Energy
Commission, will provide approximately $120 million dollars per
year over seven years to deploy the cleanest fuels and vehicles.

AB 32, signed by the Governor in 2006, is California's Global
Warming Solutions Act that set in law aggressive greenhouse gas
reduction targets (1990 levels by 2020). AB 32 set the goals, but
the solution is prescribed in the Scoping Plan which utilizes a
mix of a cap-and-trade program, along with complimentary
measures. The LCFS is included in the Scoping Plan as one of the
solutions for California to meet its AB 32 goals.

ARB will hold a public workshop the week of March 23 to accept
public comment on the proposed regulation. The proposed LCFS
regulations can be found at www.arb.ca.gov

The Air Resources Board is a department of the California
Environmental Protection Agency. ARB's mission is to promote and
protect public health, welfare, and ecological resources through
effective reduction of air pollutants while recognizing and
considering effects on the economy. The ARB oversees all air
pollution control efforts in California to attain and maintain
health based air quality standards.

#####