On Dec. 9 the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality Commission voted unanimously to finalize the state’s clean fuels program (CFP). Oregon becomes the third jurisdiction on the West Coast—following California and British Columbia—to implement a comprehensive low carbon fuels policy for transportation. The policy is modeled closely after the California low carbon fuel standard and will reduce greenhouse gas emissions 10 percent by 2025.

“Biodiesel is the most sustainable fuel on the planet,” said Don Scott, National Biodiesel Board director of sustainability. “We expect to play a major role in the Oregon program, just like we have in California and British Columbia.”

Oregon’s announcement leaves Washington as the only state on the West Coast without a program to reduce GHG emissions.

Rather than conducting its own lifecycle analysis, Oregon will generally use the values created in California, which have concluded that biodiesel decreases GHG emissions by 50 to 80 percent. 

“We are pleased that a regional carbon market has developed on the West Coast and that Oregon will primarily be using California values,” Scott said. “This should improve the efficiency and liquidity of the programs.”