Global Warming and CO2 Emissions Blog

Alternative fuels get a boost as California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger introduces world’s first standard reducing carbon content in fuels.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday called for the world's first low-carbon fuel standard, a rule that would reduce carbon emissions from transportation fuels in the state by 10 percent by 2020.

Once it's put in place by the state's Energy Commission and Air Resources Board, the standard will require fuel refiners and sellers to replace 20 percent of passenger-vehicle fuels with lower-carbon fuels. The standard is part of the move to reduce greenhouse gases in California under the Global Warming Solutions Act signed into law in September, which mandates that 2020 emissions match those of 1990.

The move is expected to more than triple the size of California's renewable fuels market and add more than 7 million alternative fuel or hybrid vehicles, 20 times current numbers. It could be a harbinger of policy change in the rest of the country and the world, as the European Union is also considering a similar measure. It's also likely to spark another round of investment and innovation in fuels, companies said.

"Today's announcement is very important news for California entrepreneurs and investors," said Bob Epstein, head of Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2), who added that more than $500 million was invested in alternative fuels last year. "If you know how to make fuels that don't use oil and reduce carbon, California is the place to be."

Environmentalists say the standard could make a big difference because transportation fuels in California contribute a significant portion of greenhouse gases. California relies on petroleum alone for 96 percent of its transportation needs.

And transportation fuels make up 40 percent of the greenhouse gases in the state, said Linda Adams, secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency. This standard alone could go 10 percent of the way toward fulfilling the goal set by the global warming law, removing 13 million tons of carbon dioxide, she said.

In a statement, Chevron said it "shares the concerns of government and public alike on the issue of greenhouse gas emissions," but did not indicate that it endorsed or opposed Gov. Schwarzenegger's move. Other oil companies could not be reached for comment, and did not speak at the press conference in San Francisco.

David Crane, a senior advisor to the governor, said oil companies are aware of the standard. "We believe we have their support," he said. "We weren't able to arrange for anyone [from the oil companies] to be here, but you will soon hear from them."

Robert Sawyer, chair of the California Air Resources Board, said the agency plans to make decisions about how to put the standard in place over the next few months, with those decisions taking effect over the next year and a half.

Dan Skopec, undersecretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency, said the Environmental Protection Agency will look to fuel companies to provide information about the carbon content of their fuels. The agency will audit that information and make sure it's correct, he said.

The intention is to leave the decisions up to refiners and sellers as to exactly how to meet the standard.

That leaves the door open for new fuels still being developed or invented, Mr. Skopec said, who also mentioned cellulosic ethanol—ethanol from materials like wood chips, corn stalks, and switchgrass, which has less carbon than carbon from starches like corn, wheat, and sugarcane—as a goal.

"The government is not predicting winners and losers; the market will decide what the best fuel is based on economics, needs for consumers, and carbon content," Mr. Skopec said.

The standard is an important signal to the investors, some of which have been burned by short-term, wavering government policies in the past, that demand for these fuels will be secure for at least 13 years, he said.

It could also spark an early version of carbon trading in the state, another opportunity for new business models. Fuel providers able to produce more low-carbon fuel than required will get credits they can bank or sell, Mr. Skopec said.

Bill Jones, former secretary of state and the chair of Pacific Ethanol, said the standard deals with the problems of greenhouse gases and energy independence without leaving out economics. He bragged that the company's ethanol plant in Madera, California, generated jobs and brings $1 million in taxes to the city's coffers.

The standard "allows everyone to go out and work hard and maybe come up with some new solutions that might surpass what we have now," he said.

Gov. Schwarzenegger plans to introduce the standard during his state of the state speech Tuesday evening, asking California to "blaze the way" for the U.S., China, and the rest of the world.

"Our cars have been running on dirty fuel for too long," according to an excerpt from his prepared statements. "Our country has been dependent on foreign oil for too long. I ask you to set in motion the means to free ourselves from oil and from OPEC. I ask you to encourage the free market to overthrow the old order. California has the muscle to bring about such change. I say use it."

Written By Jennifer Kho
Reprinted from Red Herring

Labels: arnold schwarzenegger, California, carbon dioxide emissions, environmental activism, global warming

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced Monday that he will "do everything I can to protect our coast" and will fight against the offshore oil bill the Senate is poised to vote on this week, as well as any weakening of the 25-year moratorium on coastal drilling. In a teleconference hosted by Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope, the governor echoed the Club's concern that if the Senate bill passes, it would be merged with a House bill sponsored by Representative Richard Pombo (R-Calif.) that could "lead to the weakening of the moratorium that has protected our California coasts for 25 years."

The governor touted alternative fuels, new technologies, hydrogen fueling stations, hybrid and electric cars as better solutions. "For anyone to think that this will bring gas prices down is making a big mistake."

AUDIO: Hear an excerpt from Schwarzenegger's remarks. (MP3)

Republican Schwarzenegger and the Sierra Club have not always seen eye to eye - but they are joining forces to protect our nation's coasts from becoming oil fields.

The Senate bill would open up a huge chunk of Florida's Gulf Coast to oil and drilling, and give away more than a third of the billions of dollars in oil leasing revenues over the next 50 years to four coastal states - Florida, Texas, Alabama, and Louisiana - even though the drilling would take place in federal waters.

Pope said he was delighted Governor Schwarzenegger was joining the Sierra Club and others to oppose this bill and expose it as ruse to open up every inch of the nation's coastline to potential drilling.

The governor had to return to a health summit he was chairing in Los Angeles, but Pope and others fielded reporters' questions. One reporter said that the secretary of the Interior and oil industry executives told him the Senate bill is not a precursor to drill off the coast of California - "You're basically saying they're lying?"

Pope hesitated, then said, "Yes, I am. If they want to write a bill that protects California, they know how."

While states would still have the power to block drilling, Pope said the Pombo bill would give the oil industry an advantage in every state - each state legislature would have to pass two bill every five years, one to stop oil drilling, another to stop gas drilling.

Other speakers in the teleconference included Dan Jacobson, from Environment California, who emphasized that energy efficiency and renewable energy are the cheapest and cleanest ways to generate energy, Mark Ferrulo of Florida PIRG, who expressed concerns about how the bill would be dangerous for Florida, and the Sierra Club's Melinda Pierce, who talked about how Senators Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M), Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.), and Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) are leading the opposition.

The first vote on the bill is scheduled for Wednesday.

Reprinted from the Sierra Club Website.

Labels: arnold schwarzenegger, California, carbon dioxide emissions, environmental activism, global warming

Calilfornia's Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed a new, centralized authority under his direct control that would be responsible for implementing one of the nation's most far-reaching initiatives to curb global warming.

The Governator's plan to various interests negotiating legislation that would map California's route toward a gradual rollback of greenhouse gases to 1990 levels by 2020, a potential 25 percent reduction.

Schwarzenegger did send a strong signal to corporate industry by hand-picking his Climate Action Board and empowering that body with the authority to delay the proposed deadline for reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions if state regulations prove too onerous for businesses.

"It's essential that an emission reduction system have an economic safety valve to ensure the plan protects public health and the environment, is technologically feasible and is not detrimental to the California economy," said Linda Adams, the governor's negotiator in environmental areas.

"The core elements of the bill - mandatory reporting of greenhouse-gas emissions and enforceable limits on greenhouse-gas pollution - have fairly strong support," said Karen Douglas, a negotiator for Environmental Defense, one of the nation's largest environmental advocacy groups.

Researchers say that current global warming trends could deplete water supplies and dry out forests, adding new problems to California's ecosystem and business community.

"California, without question, has a responsibility to address climate change," said Adams, secretary of the state Environmental Protection Agency. "We must do our share to protect our public health, our water supply, our coastline and industry."

California, a global economic power that ranks 12th in the world in terms of carbon dioxide emissions, must lead the way, the governor and legislative leaders agree.

Key elements of the governor's proposed amendments to Assembly Bill 32 include:

• The policy-setting Climate Action Board would be composed almost exclusively of the governor's top agency chiefs.
  
  
• Much of the oversight responsibility would be distributed throughout various departments that would be assigned to monitor specific industries.
  
  
• The new board would establish by June 1, 2008, a set of still-unspecified reduction goals for 2012 and 2016 to ensure progress toward the 2020 target.
  
  
• Industry could secure a reprieve if the 2020 reduction level proves to be harmful to the state's economy.
  
  
• Businesses would be given compliance options, including buying credit for reducing emissions elsewhere in the state, if on-site cuts are not feasible or if the administration's future studies find that the rules cost jobs.

Some industry officials have urged rejection of California-only regulations, insisting that the state's agenda is too aggressive. They say mandatory limits will burden the state's economy with higher costs and more regulation.

"This is a global issue, not a California issue," said Allan Zaremberg, president of the California Chamber of Commerce. "What makes you think that if you drive up the price of energy and fuel you're going to create jobs in California?"

Oil companies claim that they would have to reduce production by 17 percent to meet the proposed standards - the equivalent of shutting down three plants at a time of tighter supplies and spiking prices at the pump.

But Stanford University economist James L. Sweeney maintains that the net effect of new regulation will be small, whether positive or negative. Caps with incentives could reduce emissions "without any significant damage to the economy if you design the rules of the game well," he said.

Labels: arnold schwarzenegger, California, carbon dioxide emissions, environmental activism, global warming