More Criticism of CA Low Carbon Fuel Standard

Cindy Zimmerman

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger received at least two more letters this week protesting the state’s proposed Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS).

Over 65 retired members of the U.S. armed forces and intelligence community wrote to the governor about their concerns that applying the LCFS in its current state would penalize renewable fuels to the benefit of petroleum and other fossil fuel.

This is not simply a scientific or environmental matter. It is a matter of national security, which is threatened by our reliance on oil and the effects of climate change. That is why we, as former members of the United States armed forces and intelligence services are writing to you on this important subject. Biofuels play a critical role in breaking our dependence on oil and mitigating the impact of climate change. The links between national security, fossil fuels, and climate change are many and they are severe.

The letter, which came through the Truman National Security Project, concluded, “We are calling on the state of California to lend us a hand in keeping America safe by enacting a fuel regulation that is unbiased and does not enforce indirect carbon effects against only one type of fuel.”

Meanwhile, the president of the American Farm Bureau Federation also wrote to Gov. Schwarzenegger this week, calling for a “level playing field” in the development of that state’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS).

AFBF president Bob Stallman noted that the agricultural community is eager to play a central role in the increased use of biofuels, but warned, “If adopted as currently proposed, the LCFS will uniformly dissuade the production and use of all forms of biofuels that utilize land and undercut what is a tremendous opportunity to spur economic growth in agricultural communities and reduce carbon emissions with American farming.”

Ethanol, Government, Indirect Land Use