In a rare moment of candor for a regulatory body, staff at the Air Resources Board rebutted claims from public commenters on proposed changes to the Low Carbon Fuel Standard.
The lengthy and technical workshop last week spent considerable time explaining and defending the staff proposal, after widespread criticism propelled the board to delay rulemaking earlier this year.
One notable retort was in response to an advocate from California Environmental Voters, who urged the agency to drop dairy digester credits and limit crop-based fuels. The environmental group, as with many in this space, is pushing an electric-only vision for cars, trucks, ships and planes.
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CARB Deputy Executive Officer Rajinder Sahota immediately shot down the argument. She reasoned that a significant number of combustion engines will still be on the road through 2045, despite the agency’s aggressive zero-emission mandates. In the meantime, products like renewable diesel and ethanol are dropping climate emissions and local air pollution, she asserted.
“As a public health agency, it's really hard to ask the staff to not make use of a tool that's available right now,” she said. “We're asked all the time, in many rulemakings, to actually do more to make sure near-term harm is avoided to people in frontline communities.”
Sahota urged the environmentalists to “put yourself in our position” and consider “the reality that combustion engines are going to persist for decades in the state.”
