Bill Text: CA AB1970 | 2017-2018 | Regular Session | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Low-carbon fuels: electric trucks and charging stations: zero-emission vans.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2018-06-20 - In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author. [AB1970 Detail]

Download: California-2017-AB1970-Amended.html

Amended  IN  Assembly  April 12, 2018
Amended  IN  Assembly  March 15, 2018

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2017–2018 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill No. 1970


Introduced by Assembly Member Eduardo Garcia

January 31, 2018


An act to add Section 39730.9 to the Health and Safety Code, relating to greenhouse gases.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 1970, as amended, Eduardo Garcia. Low-carbon fuels.
Existing law requires the State Air Resources Board to approve and implement a comprehensive strategy to reduce emissions of short-lived climate pollutants to achieve a reduction in methane by 40% below 2013 levels by 2030. Existing law requires the state board, in consultation with the Department of Food and Agriculture, to adopt regulations to reduce methane emissions from livestock manure management operations and dairy manure management operations, as specified. Existing law requires the state board, the Public Utilities Commission, and the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission to undertake various actions related to reducing short-lived climate pollutants in the state. Existing law requires the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, in consultation with the state board, to achieve specified targets for reducing organic waste in landfills.
This bill would require the state board, the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission, the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, and the Department of Food and Agriculture to allocate an unspecified percentage of moneys for fuels and methane mitigation appropriated by the Legislature to those agencies for the development of innovative low-carbon fuels. for the development of innovative low-carbon fuel projects, as defined, no less than 25% of the moneys appropriated by the Legislature to those agencies to provide incentives for the development and deployment of alternative and renewable low-carbon fuels, the reduction of methane emissions from livestock manure management operations or dairy manure management operations, the reduction of alternative daily cover sent to landfills from in-state sources, and the reduction of methane emissions from existing or closed landfills, as specified.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

(a)California has dedicated significant funding to the development of low-carbon fuels.

(b)The development of low-carbon fuels has significant benefits for the transportation and energy sectors, which collectively contributed over one-half of California’s emission of greenhouse gases in 2015, as well as significant cobenefits for communities across the state that see new jobs and reduced exposure to harmful copollutants.

(c)California’s low-carbon fuel standards created a global model for reducing the carbon intensity of fuels.

(d)California’s short-lived climate pollutant strategy requires methane mitigation from multiple sources across the state, most of which results in the production of renewable gas.

(a) In California, petroleum-based fuels contribute to the largest source of carbon emissions.
(b) To mitigate this issue, state policy goals are driving research and development to reduce petroleum use by seeking economic and technically viable low-carbon fuel alternatives derived from locally sourced California feedstocks from various waste streams.
(c) The state needs additional viable, cost-effective clean energy and transportation solutions for reducing methane, greenhouse gas, and oxides of nitrogen emissions, which together significantly contribute to climate change and poor air quality and impact the health of communities throughout the state.
(d) Employing smart and innovative strategies to reduce emissions from the state’s agriculture and food waste sectors can create new sources of innovative renewable low-carbon fuels for the transportation and energy sectors and further enhance economic development and air quality benefits in the state’s most impacted communities.
(e) The state’s methane emissions can be converted into clean-burning renewable-gas-based fuels to replace petroleum diesel, thereby enabling problematic waste streams to be transformed into petroleum diesel fuel replacement.
(f) Newer next-generation low-carbon fuels have the potential to offer significant climate and air quality benefits and, thus, the state should provide a similar level of focus and support for these innovative low-carbon fuels as has been spent over the years on first generation low-carbon fuels.

(e)

(g) While it is important to displace the demand for conventional petroleum-based fuels, the Legislature also believes that helping to spur the development and deployment of new innovative next-generation fuel technologies by California-based companies also is an important contribution California can and should make to facilitate emissions reductions here and around the world.

SEC. 2.

 Section 39730.9 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to read:

The state board, the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission, the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, and the Department of Food and Agriculture shall allocate ____ percent of moneys for fuels and methane mitigation appropriated by the Legislature to those agencies for the development of innovative low-carbon fuels.

39730.9.
 (a) For purposes of this section, the following terms have the following meanings:
(1) “Innovative low-carbon fuel” means a renewable fuel that is generated from renewable energy resources or feedstocks that meets all of the following:
(A) The quantity of consumption per calendar year of the renewable fuel is not expected to exceed the energy equivalent of 30,000,000 gallons of petroleum-based fuel.
(B) The carbon intensity of the renewable fuel complies with the Low-Carbon Fuel Standard regulations (Subarticle 7 (commencing with Section 95480) of Title 17 of the California Code of Regulations) and is capable of meeting a carbon intensity value of at least 60 percent lower than the petroleum-based fuel baseline carbon intensity value.
(C) The renewable fuel production technology is at technology-readiness level 6 or greater, as defined in the federal Department of Energy’s Technology Readiness Assessment Guide.
(D) The renewable fuel produces lower levels of emissions of criteria air pollutants than petroleum-based fuels when being used.
(2) “Renewable fuel” includes, but is not limited to, all of the following:
(A) Renewable dimethyl ether.
(B) Renewable hydrogen.
(C) Renewable propane.
(b) The state board, the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission, the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, and the Department of Food and Agriculture shall allocate for the development of innovative low-carbon fuel projects no less than 25 percent of the moneys appropriated by the Legislature to those agencies to provide incentives for the following:
(1) The development and deployment of alternative and renewable low-carbon fuels.
(2) The reduction of methane emissions from livestock manure management operations or dairy manure management operations.
(3) The reduction of alternative daily cover sent to landfills from in-state sources.
(4) The reduction of methane emissions from existing or closed landfills.
(c) Priority shall be given to a project that demonstrates a minimum of four of the following:
(1) Utilizes feedstocks derived from instate-sourced waste streams.
(2) Maximizes local workforce and economic benefits.
(3) Provides multiple environmental and public health cobenefits, including reducing significant emissions of methane, criteria air pollutants, and toxic air contaminants.
(4) Leverages additional public or private funding.
(5) Produces innovative renewable fuel capable of achieving cost-effective reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases and criteria air pollutants on a dollar-per-metric-ton basis when considering fuel production, vehicle acquisition, and fueling infrastructure costs.
(d) If during a fiscal year the state board, the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission, the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, and the Department of Food and Agriculture determine that there are insufficient qualified applications for the moneys allocated pursuant to this section, then those moneys instead shall be made available to award incentives to other qualifying projects that are consistent with the purposes of the original appropriation according to the following:
(1) The development and deployment of alternative and renewable low-carbon fuels.
(2) The reduction of methane emissions from livestock manure management operations or dairy manure management operations.
(3) The reduction of alternative daily cover sent to landfills from in-state sources.
(4) The reduction of methane emissions from existing or closed landfills.

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