The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) has urged California to approve the lower-cost, lower-carbon E15 fuel blend, which contains 15 percent ethanol, to strengthen the state’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard, reported Ethanol Producer Magazine.
“E15 is a crucial near-term strategy for reducing carbon emissions from liquid fuels, which will remain a significant part of California’s transportation landscape for years, if not decades,” RFA Chief Economist Scott Richman stated in comments to the California Air Resources Board (CARB). “From a consumer standpoint, E15 provides a valuable opportunity to reduce gasoline costs while decreasing greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants.”
As per media report, Richman referenced a recent study suggesting that E15 could reduce the price of gasoline by 20 cents per gallon in California, which has the highest average fuel prices in the nation. This reduction could lead to annual statewide savings of $2.7 billion.
In his comments, submitted in response to CARB’s proposed modifications to California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) on August 12, Richman also criticized the expanded feedstock tracking requirements as unnecessary and overly burdensome.
These requirements were initially proposed due to concerns about the rapid expansion of biomass-based diesel (BBD). However, Richman pointed out that in the August 12 amendments, CARB capped the generation of credits for BBD from ‘virgin soybean oil and canola oil’ at 20% of annual BBD volumes on a company-wide basis. Despite this, CARB did not remove the sustainability requirements, which were intended to achieve the same goal. Instead, CARB has made these requirements even more stringent.
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