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Comment #40 for 2022 Scoping Plan Update - Recirculated Draft Environmental Anlysis
(sp22-recirc-ea-ws) - 1st Workshop

First Name: Staff
Last Name: Submittal
Email Address: Helpline@arb.ca.gov
AffiliationLeadership Counsel for Justice and Accou
Subjectsubject of comment
Comment
Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability

RE: Comments on the Recirculated Draft Environmental Analysis for
the 2022 Draft Scoping Plan

Dear Board Members and Staff of the California Air Resources Board
("CARB"):

Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability submits these
comments on the Recirculated Draft Environmental Analysis ("RDEA")
for the 2022 Draft Scoping Plan Update ("Draft Scoping Plan"). CARB
must exclude polluting fuels from the Low Carbon Fuel Standard
("LCFS") while increasing its stringency.
The RDEA proposes increasing the stringency of the LCFS.1 This
proposal echoes proposals by CARB staff in recent workshops on the
upcoming LCFS rulemaking, and appears to be in response to Governor
Newsom's call for increased stringency of the LCFS.2 We are not
opposed to increased stringency in concept. However, there are
likely consequences of taking this action in isolation that are
deeply concerning.
Currently, the LCFS includes not only decidedly carbon neutral
transportation fuels, such as electric vehicles powered by solar
and wind, but also polluting fuels such as dairy manure derived
biomenthane, otherwise known as factory farm gas. In fact, factory
farm gas is considered the most carbon negative fuel.3 The
methodology that generates this outcome is currently subject to
significant scrutiny and skepticism due in part to an incomplete
and inaccurate lifecycle analysis of factory farm gas.4 In
particular, it treats liquified manure storage, a profit-maximizing
practice that results in significant greenhouse gas emissions, as
the baseline. The methodology also excludes enteric emissions and
post-digestion emissions from manure along with other GHG emissions
associated with the production of factory farm gas. A full
accounting of these emissions undermines the assertion that
production of factory farm gas results in greenhouse gas emissions
reductions. For these reasons, along with myriad negative local air
and water quality impacts, these polluting fuels should be excluded
from the LCFS.
These methodological issues are of particular importance here
because a likely outcome of increasing the stringency of the LCFS
would be an increased demand for supposedly carbon negative fuels
and the credits they currently generate for deficit holders to
purchase. Without a true accounting of the net carbon emissions
from industrial dairies and digesters, or excluding this fuel
altogether, increasing the stringency of the LCFS would likely have
the inverse effect that it intends: an increase in carbon emissions
associated with the production of transportation fuels.
For these reasons, CARB must exclude factory farm gas from the
LCFS. The RDEA should be revised to increase the stringency of
LCFS, in line with Governor Newsom's letter, while excluding fuel
pathways that would undermine that goal.

Respectfully Submitted,

Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability
Food & Water Watch
Animal Legal Defense Fund
The Center for Food Safety


1 RDEA at 22.
2 Governor Gavin Newsom's Letter to CARB. July 22, 2022. Available
at
https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/07.22.2022-Governors-Letter-to-CARB.pdf?emrc=1054d6.
3 LCFS Pathway Certified Carbon Intensities, Cal. Air Res. Bd,
https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/resources/documents/lcfs-pathway-certified-carbon-intensities
(last visited Oct. 20, 2022). 4 See Petition for Reconsideration of
the Denial of the Petition for Rulemaking to Exclude All Fuels
Derived from Biomethane from Dairy and Swine Manure from the Low
Carbon Fuel Standard Program. Dated March 2022. Available at
https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/sites/default/files/2022-04/2022-03-28%20-%20Petition%20for%20Reconsideration%20%2
8TOC%20Updated%29.pdf.
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Date and Time Comment Was Submitted: 2022-10-27 13:56:29


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