New York LCFS supporters look to next year

New York will pursue its greenhouse gas reduction goals without adopting incentives for low-carbon fuels for another year.

The state's legislative session closed yesterday without a vote on a proposal to establish a low-carbon fuel standard (LCFS) to reduce the carbon intensity of the state's road fuels, leaving supporters to look to next year to try again.

Bill sponsor New York assemblywoman Carrie Woerner (D) said she plans to build more support for a state LCFS throughout the rest of the year and to bring the legislation back in January.

"I continue to think this is the right thing to do," Woerner told Argus. "It is not the only thing we should do, but it is an important tool."

New York in 2019 enacted a mandate to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 40pc by 2030 and by 85pc by 2050, relative to 1990 levels. States along the US west coast have buttressed similar goals by creating incentives for renewable fuels and penalties for petroleum-based fuels under LCFS programs.

Nearly identical bills in the New York Assembly and Senate proposed a 20pc reduction in transportation fuel carbon intensity by 2030. Both measures stalled in environmental committees in early March.

Woerner said she continued to press state legislative leadership on the proposal in the final hours of the session. Her bill gathered 73 co-sponsors over the course of the session.

Not far enough

But proponents must win over groups concerned that LCFS programs do not go far enough. Some environmental groups consider the programs half measures accepting continued petroleum fuel combustion rather than setting a firmer mandate to switch to zero-emissions vehicles.

The critique surprised Graham Noyes, executive director of the California-based Low Carbon Fuels Coalition, which supported the New York campaign. Biofuels producers and electric car manufacturers both supported this year's proposal.

California has set aggressive electrification targets and reduced petroleum use through its 10-year-old LCFS program.

"California is the only US state rapidly transitioning off of fossil fuels, mainly driven by the LCFS but also enabled by other programs," Noyes said.

New York needs an LCFS that recognizes the years of life remaining in internal combustion vehicles on the road today while reducing their emissions, Woerner said.

"We would all like to wave a magic wand and get to electrification tomorrow, but that is not practical," she said. "We need to do something that has immediate climate and public health benefits while we work towards the goal that we all have, which is full electrification."

Second session without passage

This was the second consecutive year New York lawmakers considered but did not advance LCFS legislation. Lawmakers set aside consideration last year to focus on an urgent response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Separately, a group tasked with developing policy recommendations for reaching the state's GHG goals is considering backing an LCFS as well as joining a regional cap-and-trade program to reduce transportation sector CO2 emissions. That group, the New York Climate Action Council, is expected to release its draft plan in the autumn.

Western states have also taken multiple legislative sessions to craft LCFS programs. Washington state discussed their program in two sessions before passing legislation advancing their LCFS program this year.

"These things do not necessarily happen overnight," Woerner said.

By Elliott Blackburn