California Low Carbon Fuels Coalition to launch amidst recent policy losses
In California, the Low Carbon Fuels Coalition will be launching to obtain continuous funding for the low carbon fuels industry through California legislation until 2016. The target legislation would establish multiple programs including rotating loans, funding for loan guarantee reserves, grant funding, and cost abatement for low-income citizens. These programs will facilitate the rapid expansion of low carbon fuels including conventional and cellulosic ethanol, biodiesel, renewable diesel, drop in advanced biofuels, waste based fuels, and renewable natural gas.
The Coalition, to be made up of a diverse group of low carbon fuel companies, will be staffed by Graham Noyes of Keyes, Fox & Wiedman LLP and Sue Couchoe of KFW’s policy team.
The catalysts underlying the Coalition’s rapid formation were the California’s Legislature failure in 2014 to appropriate a single dollar of continuous funding from California’s $832 million Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to this critical GHG-reducing industry, and the attempt to roll back Cap-and-Trade in the transportation sector that was recently mounted via Assembly Bill 69.
The Supreme Court decided not to hear the case claiming that the Low Carbon Fuel Standard is constitutionally unsound in July, much to the dismay of the Renewable Fuels Association and Growth Energy. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently reversed the opinion of a District Court, finding that the California LCFS discriminates against interstate commerce and constitutes extraterritorial regulation in violation of the Commerce Clause. For more information on the California LCFS, check out the Digest’s 2013 overview of its role in driving innovation.
Category: Policy
