In comments submitted today to the California Air Resources Board (CARB) following the latest Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) workshop, Growth Energy, the nation’s leading biofuels trade association, highlighted the growing environmental benefits of bioethanol, in particular the steady decline in bioethanol’s average carbon intensity (CI).  

“Growth Energy has previously submitted extensive comments demonstrating the vital role low-carbon biofuels and higher biofuel blends can play in meeting California’s ambitious climate goals,” said Growth Energy Senior Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Chris Bliley in the comments. “As we have noted previously and reiterate here, biofuels have been among the largest contributors to the success of the LCFS program to date and are poised to continue to do so with appropriate updates to the program.”  

Bliley noted that biofuels like bioethanol have generated more than 75 percent of LCFS credits and that additional CI reductions are anticipated as a variety of projects at ethanol biorefineries come online starting this year. Growth Energy noted that this change has already been acknowledged in the California Transportation Supply (CATS) emissions models. “The carbon intensity of ethanol has been adjusted in the CATS model to reflect the historical downward trend,” Bliley said. “We appreciate CARB’s recognition of this continued innovation in the industry and hope CARB will continue to update the program using the best and most up to date science.” 

Elsewhere in the comments, Growth Energy emphasized the need for CARB to further develop clear policies supporting higher biofuel blends, like E15.

“While we were encouraged to see CARB post the final Tier I report for the multi-media evaluation of E15 as well as the positive emissions results for E15 from the recent testing done by the University of California-Riverside, it is time to expedite the state’s approval of E15 for California consumers and to help drive further immediate GHG emission reductions,” wrote Bliley. “Just recently the Phoenix, Arizona area approved the use of E15 in its Cleaner Burning Gasoline (CBG) program, effectively leaving California and Montana as the only two states that have not approved the use of E15.” 

Read the full comments here.