GoodFuels

Stop Them Before They Kill Again

Great commentary in the Detroit News this week reminds us that the California Air Resources Board, or CARB, was implicated in the murder of the electric car a few years ago.

“CARB — the same agency that only five years ago gained notoriety for its role in “killing” the electric car — could be in a position to deliver another crippling blow to the United States’ effort to achieve energy independence,” writes Gal Luft, executive director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security and co-founder of the Set America Free Coalition, referring to CARB’s proposed low-carbon fuel standard, or LCFS.

At a time when the U.S. is charting its way out of its debilitating — and growing — oil dependence, CARB’s plan puts biofuels at a comparative disadvantage against petroleum. It does so by requiring that indirect greenhouse gas-emitting activities, such as deforestation and plowing up grasslands — which are often associated with increased use of biofuels — be considered, while failing to account for indirect carbon-emitting activities related to petroleum production.

Luft notes that “implementing the fuel standard as proposed would only cement oil’s virtual monopoly in the transportation sector.” CARB’s accomplices in killing the electric car, according to the 2006 documentary film, included the auto and oil industries. Some questions have been raised about conflicts of interest on the part of board members, and even CARB’s director Mary Nichols, who reportedly owns significant stock in oil companies through a blind trust that was created after she was appointed to the board - and is married to an attorney that represents oil companies. No doubt that oil will be a big winner if the LCFS is passed by the board.

Since many other states will follow California’s lead, the final outcome could be life threatening to biofuels. The verdict will be handed down on Thursday but there is still time to file comments with CARB. The deadline is noon Pacific time on Earth Day.