Fuel suppliers could soon be using a new acronym, NYCFS. A proposed New York Clean Fuel Standard recently took an important step forward toward becoming a real and enforceable policy with significant implications for the state’s energy and transportation sectors.
On May 10, the New York Climate Action Council’s Transportation Advisory Panel recommended that the state adopt a Clean Fuel Standard to aid in the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy. The Climate Action Council is a 22-member committee charged with preparing a Scoping Plan to help the state achieve the goals of the New York Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA). The CLCPA calls for economy-wide greenhouse gas reductions of 40 percent by 2030 and 85 percent by 2050.
Marie Therese Dominguez, commissioner of the New York State Department of Transportation, is a member of the Climate Action Council and chair of the Transportation Advisory Panel. It was she who delivered the panel’s official recommendations to the Climate Action Council on May 10.
“Even with very aggressive electrification, we will still be using fossil fuels for the coming three decades,” Dominguez said. “Emissions from these fuels can be reduced in the interim with a clean fuel standard requiring the fuel industry to produce or utilize lower-carbon fuels like renewable biofuels and electricity. These fuels can also be used in hard-to-electrify fields like aviation, maritime and long-distance trucking.”
Biofuel industry stakeholders are intimately familiar with the concept, as clean fuel standards have already been successfully implemented in California, Oregon and British Columbia, Canada. Last month, Washington State adopted a clean fuel standard as well. The Clean Fuels NY Coalition, which has been pushing for New York to adopt a clean fuel standard, applauded the Transportation Advisory Panel’s decision to include such a program in its recommendations.
“Transportation emissions are the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions and asthma-inducing pollution in New York,” said Julie Tighe, president of the New York League of Conservation Voters, the group that leads the Clean Fuels NY Coalition. “We need to hold the fossil fuel industry accountable for the damage they’ve done and make them pay for our transition to a clean transportation future,” Tighe continued. “On behalf of the Clean Fuels NY Coalition, we thank the Transportation Advisory Panel for making this important recommendation to the Climate Action Council. Now, we need to pass a clean fuel standard to reach our climate goals and protect the health of New Yorkers.”
Legislation that would implement a clean fuel standard in New York is currently under committee review in the State Senate and Assembly. As of press time, S2962A and A862A have 29 and 67 co-sponsors, respectively.
The New York Climate Action Council is slated to begin preparing a draft Scoping Plan later this year to be released and reviewed in 2022. The final Scoping Plan will be delivered to the Governor and Legislature in 2023, and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation will release regulations attuned to that plan’s emission reduction strategies in 2024.
Meanwhile, California recently released the latest figures from its Low-Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) program, showing that biodiesel and renewable diesel continue to lead all transportation technologies in terms of emission reductions (see “CARB Releases Latest LCFS Numbers,” from this issue). Should New York adopt a similar program, biofuel industry insiders expect to see similar results in the Empire State, which could lend momentum to the push for a regional or even federal clean fuel standard modeled after the states’ initiatives.
Energy.ink will continue to follow this story as it develops.