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Dear Governor Newsom and Members of the California Air Resources
Board (CARB),

I'm a professor of medical anthropology and a California resident.
I have called the San Francisco Bay Area my home since 2009. I am
writing to urge you to stop using taxpayer dollars to fund factory
farm biogas projects, which threaten the well-being of animals,
people, and the planet.

Funding biogas production under the Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS)
incentivizes the consolidation and growth of the notoriously
harmful factory farming industry. 

Every year, industrial agriculture forces billions of animals to
suffer in unimaginably cruel conditions. It generates air, water,
and methane pollution that entrench fossil fuel interests and
accelerate the climate crisis. The externalities of industrial
agriculture also include health effects: increased rates of high
blood pressure, respiratory conditions, and waterborne illnesses
for local communities. 

To begin addressing these substantial harms, I urge you to
implement the following reforms to the LCFS:

1. Eliminate "avoided methane crediting" in 2024.
2. Address inaccuracies in the Life Cycle Assessment that ignore
associated up- and downstream greenhouse gas emissions from factory
farm gas production.
3. Remove the 10-year "grace period" for factory farm gas
producers.
4. Stop double-counting by allowing factory farm gas projects paid
for and claimed by other programs to sell LCFS credits as well.

The future of our communities and shared environment is in your
hands. Please reform LCFS to create a safer, healthier state for
all Californians.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Martha Lincoln, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Anthropology
San Francisco State University