Environmental Advocates See Hope in New Fuel Standards

A proposed Clean Fuel Standard (CFS) could be bringing in billions in disposable income, according to a report by the Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management (NESCAUM).

A proposed Clean Fuel Standard (CFS) could be bringing in billions in disposable income, according to a report by the Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management (NESCAUM).

“The economic analysis shows that we can protect our health, our communities, and our wallets at the same time,” Nathanael Greene, director of Renewable Energy Policy at Natural Resources Defense Council wrote on his blog. “By investing in American technology and entrepreneurs, we can put our energy dollars to work creating jobs and cleaning up the air at home, rather than sending them overseas. The Clean Fuels Standard is the path forward.”

The report estimates creating up to 50,000 jobs annually, increasing personal disposable income in the region by $3.2 billion, and growing the states’ economies by about $30 billion in the next 10 years while reducing the region’s dependence on oil by 29 percent and harmful air pollution by 9 percent.

The report also acknowledges that the cost analysis is not a forecast and documents estimated data for a carbon intensity reduction of 10 percent over 10 years, 5 percent over 10 years, and 15 percent over 15 years, to give a range of potential market responses.

Governors from 11 Northeast and mid-Atlantic states signed up to develop a mandatory and multistate, fuel-neutral and market based CFS in 2009, with the goal of promoting cleaner fuel, local economic development, technological innovation, and reduce greenhouse gas and carbon intensity in fuels.

“This program would allow all fuels to compete based on their greenhouse gas impacts and costs. It would create incentives for advances in biofuels and promote broader deployment of other low carbon transportation fuels such as electricity and natural gas,” the report states.

Even with a 10 percent target reduction of carbon intensity, gasoline and diesel fuel would still remain the main transportation fuels, and nearly 100 percent of transportation fuel currently used in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic region is imported from outside of those 11 states, according to the report.

The report focused on biofuels, electricity, and natural gas. It illustrated the region’s dependence on imported oil and highlighted the savings that comes with a domestically produced clean fuel program.

“The cost of our oil dependence is out of control, from the price we pay at the pump to the impact of the oil dependence on our air, our beaches, and our climate,” said Daniel Gatti, staff attorney for Environment America in a statement.

Jeremy McDiarmid, Massachusets director for Environment Northeast, said over the phone that they’re expecting a lot of “scare tactics and misinformation” from the big oil companies, and “They’d like to see us continue to be addicted to big oil rather than moving from status quo, toward alternatives that pollute less.”

Consumer Energy Alliance and American Petroleum Institute were unavailable for comment by the time of publication.

The report will be reviewed by stakeholders in meetings through September. Gatti wrote in an e-mail that the states “are moving somewhat cautiously given that we had quite a bit of turnover at the governors level in 2010,” but with oil dependence costs rising and energy alternatives being discussed on multiple levels, they hope “this program will pick up steam over the next year.”

NESCAUM’s findings will serve as a template for each of the states to then implement, either through regulation or legislation, their own clean fuel programs.