Hello -
I am logged onto the 12/15 CARB Board Zoom meeting and have had
my virtual hand raised for mulitple hours. Your representative
called my name at approximatly 2:40 p.m. but my microphone was
never opened to allow me to speak. Below please find my planned
spoken remarks:
My name
is Amanda Parsons DeRosier and I’m here representing Global
Clean Energy. Thank you for accepting our comments today.
Global
Clean Energy is a California-based renewable fuel innovator with
offices in Torrance and a renewable fuels refinery in Bakersfield
(a disadvantaged community).
Sustainable agriculture and low carbon renewable fuels are
important to our clean energy future and we appreciate you
recognizing this within the scoping plan. For the first time, this
scoping plan calls for renewable fuel feedstock restrictions to
avoid “unintended consequences” such as the
“expanse of global deforestation, unsustainable land
conversion, or adverse food supply impacts.”
Global
Clean Energy is unique in that we will produce ultra-low carbon
renewable fuels using a new crop called camelina, which contributes
to none of these concerns.
Unlike
other renewable fuel feedstocks, camelina is nonfood. It has quick
maturity, drought tolerance, pest tolerance, promotes biodiversity,
sequesters carbon as it is grown, and provides land benefits
similar to cover crops. Importantly, camelina
also does not displace food crops when grown - rather, it grows on
fallow farm land between crop cycles - providing additive revenues
to farmers and rural agricultural communities.
With
these unique traits, camelina does not contribute to the food vs.
fuel debate or cause indirect land use change. It provides
sustainable agriculture benefits as it is grown and clean air
benefits from the fuels it produces. Further, camalina has the
potential to be the lowest carbon renewable fuel feedstock on the
market.
Renewable fuels made from intermediate feedstocks like
camelina can play a key role in propelling California toward
reaching carbon neutrality by 2045. We encourage CARB to recognize
that not all virgin oil feedstocks are created equal and urge you
to create incentives for the use of non ILUC crops like camelina
for renewable fuel production as you implement policies guided by
this scoping plan. Thank you.