Industry Supports California's Low Carbon Fuel Standard, Recommends Staying the Course

SACRAMENTO, CA--(Marketwired - May 11, 2017) - As California policymakers consider options to extend the state's landmark climate change laws to 2030 and beyond, today 155 businesses and industry groups said they strongly support the Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) in a letter to Governor Jerry Brown, Senate President pro Tempore Kevin de León, and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon.

First implemented in 2011, the LCFS requires California fuel providers to reduce the carbon intensity of transportation fuels at least 10 percent by 2020, by phasing in less carbon-intensive fuel technologies. The letter demonstrates the depth and breadth of business support for the LCFS, which creates jobs and rewards innovation while slashing greenhouse gas emissions and improving air quality. In just five years -- 2011 to 2016 -- the LCFS helped inspire a 57 percent uptick in the use of clean fuels in California. More than 300 companies in the clean transportation technology industry now employ more than 25,000 workers in California, as CALSTART showed in a report released in 2016.

"The LCFS is spurring the growth of a cleaner fuels industry and creating new jobs in California," said John Boesel, president and CEO of CALSTART, a consortium of clean transportation technology companies that organized the letter. "We have been seeing a steady expansion of the low carbon fuels industry in California. The LCFS is working and should be continued and strengthened."

Signatories to the letter include clean fuel producers, vehicle manufacturers, and vehicle fleet operators. In the letter, signatories lauded the LCFS because it provides the incentives needed to invest in new clean vehicle and fuel technologies today in order to bring down the costs for all Californians in the future.

The state's flourishing clean economy was a major focus of the letter. As indicated in the letter, the LCFS has supported the development of over 20 low-carbon fuel plants throughout the state, with additional facilities on the horizon. Since 2011, $1.6 billion has been invested in clean fuels production under the LCFS.

"The LCFS credits provide an important source of revenue for CR&R's anaerobic digester facility," said Paul Relis, senior vice president of CR&R Incorporated, a supportive business. "This facility is producing the cleanest transportation fuel available to address nitrogen oxide and criteria emissions and short-lived climate pollutants in Southern California." Based in Orange County, CR&R is one of California's largest waste and recycling collection companies and is the first in California to produce renewable natural gas from organic material diverted from landfills and inject it into the pipeline.

With the LCFS, California is on track to meet the greenhouse gas reduction targets enshrined in the state's landmark climate change laws including AB 32 and more recently, SB 32. Signatories also note the LCFS has been a vital tool for bringing clean, low carbon transportation to California's disadvantaged communities and that the policy improves air quality in areas like the San Joaquin Valley and the South Coast Air Basin, two regions that suffer from the nation's worst air quality. The policy has already helped California avert 26 million tons of carbon pollution and $2 billion in avoided public health impacts.

"The LCFS is a critical incentive driving heavy-duty truck and bus fleets toward zero-emission vehicles," said Macy Neshati, senior vice president of BYD Heavy Industries, a California manufacturing company. "To date, BYD has created more than 600 vehicle manufacturing jobs in California to meet strong demand for zero-emission vehicles."

Companies signing the letter emphasized that the LCFS is good for their customers. According to a recent report, the LCFS will save California consumers $1,210 to $1,530 in annual fuel costs while encouraging new mobility options and more alternative fuel choices. Love's Travel Stops, a truck stop and convenience store chain, and Trillium CNG, a leading provider of renewable natural gas for natural gas vehicles, both rely on the LCFS to commercialize cleaner, more modern fuel.

"Love's and Trillium CNG strongly support California's LCFS program," said Bill Cashmareck, president of Trillium CNG. "It allows our companies to continue to invest with confidence in renewable natural gas, creates good paying jobs that support our business, and allows us to deliver clean burning fuels to the state of California."

View the complete letter and full list of signatories here.

About CALSTART
CALSTART is a national nonprofit organization that works with 165 member companies to build the clean transportation technology industry, create jobs, improve air quality, and prevent global warming.

CALSTART's member companies represent a broad range of clean transportation technologies and the fleets that use them, including fuel providers; truck, bus and carmakers; and Fortune 500 companies. For more information, visit www.calstart.org.