Move would mandate higher ethanol levels statewide by 2011.

Photo by: yachtphotography.com

LOG NEWS SERVICE — The California Air Resources Board has adopted a first-in-the-nation mandate requiring low-carbon fuels, as part of the state’s wider effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The board voted 9-1 on April 23 to approve the standards, which are expected to create a new market for alternative fuels and increase the amount of ethanol used in the state’s gasoline supply by next year.

“I think we’re creating the framework for a new way of looking at automotive fuels, where no longer will gasoline derived by petroleum be the only game in town,” said board chairwoman Mary Nichols.

A low-carbon mandate would reduce California’s dependency on petroleum by 20 percent and account for one-tenth of the state’s goal to cut greenhouse gas emissions from the state’s transportation fuels by 2020, Nichols said.

The rules call for reducing the carbon content of fuels sold in the state by 10 percent by 2020, a plan that includes counting all the emissions required to deliver gasoline and diesel to California consumers — from drilling a new oil well or planting corn to transporting it to gas stations.

Under the new low-carbon fuel standard, petroleum refiners, companies that blend fuel and distributors must increase the cleanliness of the fuels they sell in California beginning in 2011.

Fuel sold for recreational watercraft is treated the same as any other transportation fuel and is subject to the new standards, the board said.

Fuel producers could comply in different ways, such as providing a cleaner fuel portfolio, blending low-carbon ethanol with gasoline or purchasing credits from other clean-energy producers, the Air Resources Board said.

Currently, while most reformulated gasoline sold in the state contains an average of 6 percent ethanol by volume, some blends of 8 percent ethanol are available. Increasing the ethanol content to 10 percent — the maximum amount presently allowed under federal EPA regulations — can help refiners mitigate permeation emissions under the new standards, the board said.

Recently, Kinder Morgan, a common carrier pipeline and terminal operator responsible for distribution of 60 percent of California’s motor vehicle fuels, announced that in 2010, gasoline they distribute would have 10 percent ethanol.

A pro-ethanol lobby organization called Growth Energy and 54 ethanol manufacturers recently submitted a petition asking the federal Environmental Protection Agency to increase the maximum allowable percent of ethanol in the nation’s gasoline from 10 to 15 percent.

The National Marine Manufacturers Association — a trade organization representing boat builders, engine manufacturers and marine accessory manufacturers — said it opposes the increase unless independent and comprehensive testing demonstrates that increasing ethanol blends above 10 percent will not pose a risk to marine engines, fuel systems and components.

“Marine engines,” the NMMA said, “are designed and certified to run on no more than E-10 (10 percent ethanol fuel), the current legal allowable blend limit.”

— This story includes information
from The Associated Press.