(a) The biofuels study commission established pursuant to the provisions of this chapter shall explore the possibility of developing and entering into, to the extent possible, an agreement among those states participating in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, for the purpose of implementing a low carbon fuel standard (hereinafter referred to as "LCFS"), for transportation fuels. Provided, the commission is not authorized to, nor shall the commission enter into any form of agreement, contract, compact, memorandum of understanding, or similar document or arrangement.
(b) By way of guidance, in developing proposed agreements, such agreements should seek to provide for the following, when reasonably possible:
(1) That LCFS shall be measured on a full fuels lifecycle basis;
(2) That LCFS may be met through market-based methods by which providers exceeding the performance required by an LCFS shall receive credits that may be applied to future obligations or traded to providers not meeting the LCFS;
(3) That agreement shall establish a declining standard for greenhouse gas emissions measured in CO2-equivalent grams per unit of fuel energy sold, sufficient to achieve a ten percent (10%) reduction in the carbon content of all passenger vehicle fuels sold in participating states; and
(4) That the state shall, with the other states participating in the agreement, examine the regulations and implementation of a low carbon fuel standard in California and other states and consider ways to coordinate and issue public findings on both such matters, and if applicable, use in the agreement the life-cycle analysis methods employed by the California Air Resources Board to determine the carbon intensity of fuel. The state shall, with other states, adopt life-cycle emissions accounting standards that are consistent with the EPA's recently revised regulations for the federal renewable fuel standard.
History of Section.
P.L. 2011, ch. 379, § 1.