Opinion: To Accelerate NY’s Climate Progress, Pass a Clean Fuel Policy

New York can forge ahead by adopting a Clean Fuel Standard CFS It s a proven market-driven strategy for rapidly decarbonizing transportation at minimal citizens expense A truck traveling through Queens Adi Talwar City Limits This week Gov Kathy Hochul revealed a budget deal which allocates billion for situation programs details TBA But the Legislature still has urgent work to do to implement New York s landmark environment law and defend it from Trump administration attacks To accelerate circumstances progress it should pass a clean fuel guidelines this session The state s setting law mandates a percent greenhouse gas reduction by and percent zero-emission electricity generation by We re not on track to meet those goals Of late the U S Environmental Protection Agency denounced the law as unimplementable even as the U S Department of the Interior revoked the permit for a large windpower project off Long Island that would have helped implement it But New York can forge ahead by adopting a Clean Fuel Standard CFS It s a proven market-driven strategy for rapidly decarbonizing transportation at minimal citizens expense CFS policies incentivize low-carbon fuels and electricity for transportation including renewable diesel and renewable natural gas made from organic wastes They work by making polluters not taxpayers pay for cleaner alternatives requiring high-carbon fuel producers to buy credits from low-carbon fuel producers As carbon emissions targets tighten year on year production of clean fuels generating the majority of credits ratchet up These programs really work Since California adopted the first Low Carbon Fuel Standard in clean fuels replaced over billion gallons of liquid petroleum fuel in-state reducing the California transportation sector s carbon intensity by over percent three years ahead of schedule and that progress is accelerating Similar standards were adopted in Oregon Washington State New Mexico and Canada Eleven other U S states are considering them including New York which is undertaking a CFS feasibility investigation But the jury is already in CFS works Decarbonizing transportation is urgent and the Legislature should enact CFS New York s transportation sector is its second largest greenhouse gas emitter and a major source of toxic air garbage Diesel truck exhaust contributes to smog and acid rain harms robustness and kills New Yorkers annually By far the worst offenders are thousands of heavy-duty diesel trucks built before still on our roads A CFS would enable replacing them with cleaner fuel trucks An Potential Vision statement just now assessed three replacement technologies trucks running on renewable diesel made from vegetable oils compressed natural gas trucks running on RNG made from organic wastes and heavy-duty electric vehicles It identified that while EVs work well as light- and medium-duty trucks up to pounds they aren t yet a practical replacement for heavier trucks Class and Heavy-duty EV trucks cost more than diesels Their large heavy batteries shrink cargo maximum They have limited range performance issues longer downtime and scant availability fewer than were deployed nationwide from to mid- Although their tailpipe emissions are zero their overall emissions are not In NYS fossil fuels still generate about half the electricity charging their batteries And heavy-duty EVs require costly high-capacity charging stations which have yet to be built here Following California s lead New York instituted an Advanced Clean Trucks rule requiring truck manufacturers to sell an increasing percentage of zero-emissions vehicles starting this year rising to percent by The quota system favors EV trucks But given concerns about their cost performance and charging infrastructure it s complicated to see how the rule could realistically be applied to the heaviest EV trucks NYS Senator Jeremy Cooney introduced a sensible bill to delay the rule s implementation I remain fully committed to New York s context goals he revealed I also recognize the work needed to put infrastructure in place supporting EV trucking Meanwhile we can t wait to start replacing New York s oldest dirtiest heavy trucks There are viable alternatives we can deploy now There are already heavy-duty compressed natural gas trucks on U S roads fueled increasingly by renewable natural gas RNG-powered trucks have percent of the clean air benefits of heavy-duty EVs much lower costs and potentially greater environment benefits Producing RNG captures methane that would otherwise escape into the atmosphere and warm the planet When made from manure or food waste RNG has the lowest lifecycle GHGs of any fuel or battery system A New York CFS would speed adoption of RNG fuel and trucks here It would simultaneously generate funds for EV charging infrastructure hastening implementation of the Advanced Clean Trucks rule The two policies are complementary With New York s atmosphere targets looming we need to make rapid progress on cleaning up our transportation sector More charging stations will help eventually but as NYS Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal explained We cannot wait any longer to implement a clean fuel guidelines in New York State The Legislature should do it this session and not punt to next year Matt Tomich is President of the non-profit organization Potency Vision The post Opinion To Accelerate NY s Setting Progress Pass a Clean Fuel Plan appeared first on City Limits