Comment Log Display

Dear California Air Resources Board,

The proposed amendments to California's Low Carbon Fuel Standard 
frankly do not serve the state's role as a climate leader. This is
because the program subsidizes combustion fuels to the tune of
billions of dollars per year and has no place in our toolkit of
climate policies for this decade and beyond. There is too much on
the line for our climate to get this critical program so wrong.

Governor Newsom's budget proposes significant delays and cuts of
hundreds of millions of dollars to vital zero-emission
transportation programs, which makes it all the more urgent to use
the Low Carbon Fuel Standard to more fully support zero-emissions
transportation. Historically, California has thrown good money
after bad, and devoted 80% of the LCFS's $3 to 4 billion each and
every year to combustion technology. These funds should instead be
used to anchor our transition to a zero-emissions future. 

The world has changed a lot since the implementation of the LCFS in
2009. Unlike the 2000s, we have a north star goal for our climate
and the air we breathe: zero emissions transportation.  Continuing
to invest the billions in revenue from the LCFS into harmful and
polluting biofuels that end up combusted, instead of electric
vehicles powered by clean energy, hampers our efforts to fight the
climate crisis while enriching oil companies and industrial
agriculture. 

I urge you to correct course and modernize the program by
reflecting the scientific consensus that the only way to meet air
quality standards is through eliminating combustion altogether, not
piling on billions of dollars in lavish incentives for combustion
each and every year. By focusing on real air pollution solutions, 
a clean air multiplier could be added to the credits system,
especially for public fleets that transport many people at once,
which would deliver major benefits for California's air quality and
throw a lifeline to cash-strapped transit agencies that low-income
Californians depend on for mobility. 

California cannot meet our clean air and climate goals without
harnessing the power of the Low Carbon Fuel Standard and
overhauling this multibillion-dollar program for our zero emissions
future. Please act expeditiously to reform the program to achieve
our state's ambitious goals.

Sincerely,
Karen Elcaness
16 Linda St  San Francisco, CA 94110-1690