R.I., Mass. join pact on low-carbon fuels

R.I., Mass. join pact on low-carbon fuels
By Chris Barrett
PBN Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island, Massachusetts and nine other states agreed Wednesday to work toward reducing emissions from cars and trucks.

The memorandum of understanding does not commit the states to any specific program, but pledges to explore a Low-Carbon Fuel Standard that would mandate fuels emit fewer greenhouse gases.

“Developing alternatives to our continued reliance on petroleum-based fuels will foster economic growth and enable increases in fuel security and reliability,” the memorandum said. “And further, the development, commercialization and use of fuels that have low carbon intensity can support the growth of jobs, businesses, and services in a clean energy economy.”

Ten of the 11 states are already partners in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which seeks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from power plants through a regional cap-and-trade program. Pennsylvania is the additional signatory not in RGGI.

The RGGI program sets a limit on the amount of carbon that each state can release into the atmosphere and requires power plant operators to bid on permits to offset their emissions. The hope is that setting a price for carbon emissions will motivate plant operators to reduce total emissions.

Wednesday’s memorandum proposed that the states explore a similar program for establishing trading credits related to transportation fuels and possibly heating fuels as well. The memorandum calls for a proposed program framework to be completed by early 2011.

By that point, Rhode Island will have a new governor, as incumbent Republican Donald L. Carcieri is term-limited. Mass. Gov. Deval L. Patrick is up for re-election next November.

http://www.pbn.com/detail/47004.html

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RE: R.I., Mass. join pact on low-carbon fuels - 12/31/2009 4:17:37 PM

michaelisin4u

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Mass. joins program to cut tailpipe emissions
Goal is finding cleaner-burning fuels for vehicles
By Erin Ailworth
Globe Staff / December 31, 2009

Massachusetts is among 11 eastern states that agreed yesterday to develop a plan by 2011 for a regional program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from vehicle fuels.

Governor Deval Patrick was among the governors who signed the agreement, committing to evaluate alternative fuel options and study the costs of such a program, which will promote using cleaner fuels.

Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Laurie Burt said the state “will look carefully at the costs of fuels, the infrastructure costs . . . so that we can see the impacts on our state if we proceed to do this.’’

The states involved in the program include Pennsylvania and the 10 members of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which covers an area stretching from Maine to Maryland and was formed to regulate the amount of carbon dioxide put out by local power plants.

Now the 11 states are hoping to regulate similar pollution from tailpipes, as roughly 30 percent of the region’s greenhouse gas emissions, which contribute to climate change, come from transportation fuels. The program is expected to include a 10 percent reduction in the carbon intensity, or the amount of pollution released per unit of energy produced, of such fuels.

“Tackling transportation emissions is the next big thing,’’ said Jeremy McDiarmid, an attorney for Environment Northeast, a nonprofit environmental policy and advocacy group that supports developing a policy to reward the use of fuels that are cleaner than gasoline and other fossil fuels.

Some question whether such a program - called a low-carbon fuel standard - will actually benefit the environment. Earlier this year, a trio of academics published a paper in the American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, questioning the efficacy of a clean fuel standard. A study, they wrote, showed that a low-carbon fuel policy “increases low-carbon fuel production, possibly increasing net carbon emissions.’’

Translation: A clean fuel policy could unintentionally result in more pollution. That’s because, though the production of dirtier fuels decreases, larger amounts of cleaner fuels - which still generally have some negative environmental impact - will be made.

University of California at Davis economist Christopher R. Knittel, one of the paper’s authors, said the study also shows that a low-carbon fuel standard is a costly way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transportation fuels. He said such a fuel standard is five to 10 times more expensive than a cap-and-trade program that yields the same reductions in carbon. A cap-and-trade program regulates polluters, forcing them to pay for the pollution they emit above a certain benchmark.

“My big fear is that we adopt something like this and it becomes so costly that it just pushes climate change policy back a few years or a number of years,’’ Knittel said.

Burt, head of the state’s environmental protection department, said a program that rewards the use of clean fuels - ethanol made from plant waste, say, or electricity - makes sense for the region and allows the market to decide what fuel options get used most.

“We don’t want to pick just one biofuel and say this is the magic bullet,’’ she said. “Diversity of fuel mix would be a very good thing.’’

http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2009/12/31/mass_joins_program_to_cut_tailpipe_emissions/

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RE: R.I., Mass. join pact on low-carbon fuels - 12/31/2009 4:21:49 PM

michaelisin4u

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Baldacci Pushes for Low Carbon Fuel Standard
12/30/2009 04:33 PM ET
The 11-state effort is aimed at cutting global warming emissions from cars and trucks.

Maine Gov. John Baldacci is among 11 Northeast and Mid-Atlantic governors who have signed an agreement to develop a mandatory, multi-state Low Carbon Fuel Standard, or LCFS.

LCFS establishes a global warming standard for transportation fuels aimed at cutting car and truck emissions that contribute to the problem. California was the first state to adopt an LCFS earlier this year, which requires the "carbon intensity" of transportation fuels to be cut 10 percent by 2020. Carbon intensity is the amount of carbon dioxide emitted per unit of economic growth.

Supporters say the move will discourage the use of high carbon fuels, such as tar sands, and speed the adoption of cleaner-burning fuel alternatives such as electric vehicles and biofuels.

The governors did not lay out specific reduction targets, state officials say. James Brooks, Director of Maine's Department of Environmental Protection's Air Quality Bureau, says an analysis will be done to determine the policy framework for a Low Carbon Fuel Standard for the region. Brooks says a potential proposal is expected by the end of next year.

Supporters of the effort, such as Environment Northeast and the Conservation Law Foundation, say the Memorandum of Understanding signed today is a step forward.

The eleven states involved include Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Delaware.

http://www.mpbn.net/Home/tabid/36/ctl/ViewItem/mid/3483/ItemId/10387/Default.aspx

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