Coastal Effect
Summary
Comparable to California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard, pro-biofuel policies in Oregon, Washington and British Columbia offer a vast region of opportunity for reduced-CI ethanol on the Pacific Coast. “The vision of a Pacific Coast collaborative, developing climate change policy together, creating a steady coastline of clean fuel standards from Southern California to the northernmost tip of British Columbia, is happening,” Noyes says. “To me, it’s about having a bigger market and more opportunities to sell ethanol.” The bottom line, Coye-Huhn says, is that the West Coast’s collective push to meet transportation-related carbon reduction targets is creating a massive low-CI technology and investment pull that is rippling through the biofuel sector, evident in the rise of renewable diesel and ethanol’s move into CCS. A national LCFS, however, is considered by some to be a potential quagmire for corn ethanol, and the U.S. biofuel industry more broadly supports the development of state and regional clean fuel standards that complement the current RFS. “We need to include them in this effort to unleash their creativity and potential.” Grower practices appear to hold the answer to future CI reductions beyond CCS and increased plant efficiency, but Noyes says many looming questions remain.