May 14, 2010
(OPIS) Spokesman: CARB Plans to Address New ILUC Model in Upcoming Workshops
Published in OPIS
Published by OPIS
By: Rachael Gantz
While not providing an immediate comment on Growth Energy's petition earlier this week that asked the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to either delay the indirect land use change (ILUC) provision included in the agency's low- carbon fuel standard (LCFS) or update the model the agency uses to reflect recently released data by Purdue University, CARB reiterated plans to address the new data in upcoming workshops, a CARB spokesman confirmed to OPIS late Wednesday.
"It is not appropriate to respond to their petition informally before the Board formally responds in writing, as required under Government Code 11340.7 (a)," explained CARB spokesman Dimitri Stanich. "But I can add that ARB will address the new Purdue analysis and many others through workshops in the coming months. These will be summarized in a report to the board in the fall of 2010 that will have recommendations on how to include new information in the regulation," he said.
CARB's LCFS, finalized last year, will be phased in beginning in 2011, and will require fuel producers and suppliers to reduce the carbon intensity of their products by 10% by 2020. Included in the LCFS are carbon intensity values for various fuels using a number of production pathways (i.e., using different feedstocks to produce the fuel and varying transportation methods for sending the fuel to the end user). Additionally, as with EPA's rules for implementing the expanded renewable fuels standard, the LCFS includes ILUC in its carbon intensity calculations, much to the chagrin of the biofuels industry that believes more testing needs to occur on a generally accepted method for determining ILUC.
However, a new study released last week by Purdue University researchers found that CARB overestimated the impact that ILUC had on grain-based ethanol by a factor of two in developing the state's LCFS. The Purdue University research, led by agricultural economics professor Wallace Tyner, used updated information from the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) model to estimate that average corn ethanol land use emissions were 13.9 grams CO2 equivalent per mega joule. These results are less than half of the ILUC value of 30 grams CO2 equivalent per mega joule adopted by CARB in its LCFS.
In its petition, filed in Monday, Growth Energy requests that either CARB defer the ILUC provision for at least the first two years of the LCFS compliance period (2011 and 2012), or permit the use of updated versions of the GTAP model for determining carbon intensity.
According to Growth Energy, state law requires CARB to respond to the petition within 30 days. The agency can either agree to consider the requested change in LCFS at a public hearing, or by denying the petition, explain in writing why the petition is being denied.
Meanwhile, Growth Energy, along with a handful of other groups, has filed federal lawsuits against CARB's LCFS, challenging the constitutionality of the requirement.
