Establishes the clean fuel standard of 2024; provides such standard is intended to reduce carbon intensity from the on-road transportation sector by 30% by 2032, with further reductions to be implemented based upon advances in technology.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A964A
SPONSOR: Woerner TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the environmental conservation law, in relation to
establishing the "clean fuel standard of 2024"
PURPOSE:
This legislation amends the environmental conservation law to require
the development of a clean fuel standard in New York State to reduce
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the transportation sector to achieve
the goals set forth in the climate leadership and community protection
act.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1. Legislative findings and declarations Section 2. Establishes
the title of the legislation.
Section 3. Amends the environmental conservation law to create a new
section 19-0333 to require the Department of Environmental Conservation,
in consultation with the New York State Energy, Research and Development
Authority, to promulgate regulations to create a clean fuel standard in
New York State. Other than aviation fuels which are pre-empted by feder-
al law, the standard will apply to all providers of transportation
fuels, including electricity, and is intended to reduce carbon intensity
from the on-road transportation sector by at least twenty percent by
2031. The legislation further requires the regulations to consider the
low carbon fuel standard adopted in California and other states, include
coordination with other northeastern states to promote regional
solutions to reduce GHG emissions, and include fees for registering
providers to offset implementation costs. The legislation requires elec-
tric utilities, state agencies, and authorities, in consultation with
the climate justice working group and climate action council, to invest
or direct, to the extent practicable, forty percent of the entity's
earned credit value to electrified transportation programs, projects or
investments to directly benefit disadvantaged communit ies. This program
is intended to be similar to the California low carbon fuel standard,
which is promoting reductions in GHG emissions in the transportation
sector by assigning carbon intensity values to all fuels, taking into
account the entire lifecycle of the fuel, and requiring high carbon
fuels to promote low carbon fuels through a credit mechanism. The
commissioner shall report to the legislature within twenty-four months
following adoption of the regulations.
Section 4. Makes the legislation effective immediately.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ORIGINAL AND AMENDED VERSION (IF APPLICABLE):
Section 1 is amended to clarify the legislative findings and declara-
tions. Section 3 is amended to clarify portions of § 19-0333 and to make
technical changes.
JUSTIFICATION:
Greenhouse gas ("GHG") emissions pose a serious threat to the health of
New York's citizens and the quality of the environment, and New York's
transportation sector is the leading source of GHG emissions in the
state, contributing over 34 percent of the state's annual GHG emissions.
New York's transportation economy currently relies almost entirely on
petroleum-based fuels to meet a substantial percent of its transporta-
tion needs, particularly the transportation needs for medium and large
trucks. Increased concentrations of ground-level ozone - directly
related to GHG emissions - can promote respiratory illness in children
and the elderly and exacerbate pre-existing respiratory illnesses. This
can result in significant hospitalization costs and mortality rates,
both of which are higher in New York State than the national average. In
recent years, the total cost of asthma-related hospitalization in New
York State was approximately six hundred and sixty million dollars; a
number of New York residents die each year from asthma alone.
Global warming may have adverse impacts on human health and the environ-
ment. These impacts include increased heat illnesses and mortality,
respiratory illnesses from increased formation of ground-level ozone,
and the introduction or spread of vector-born illnesses. Global warming
may adversely impact New York State shoreline, drinking water sources,
agriculture, forests and wildlife diversity. While New York State
continues to follow California regarding low emission vehicle standards,
these efforts are not enough to address the transportation sector
threats.
Greater fuel diversity and innovation towards low emissions solutions in
the transportation sector also provides significant economic benefit.
New York's existing dependence on a single type of transportation fuel -
whose price is highly volatile - imperils our economic security, endan-
gers our jobs, and jeopardizes our industries. Diversifying the sources
of transportation fuel helps to protect our jobs and economy from the
consequences of oil price shocks. In addition, alternative fuels can
provide economic development opportunities and reduce emissions of
greenhouse gases, criteria pollutants, and toxic air contaminants from
transportation and other sectors.
Although New York State has adopted the California standards for vehicle
emissions and is making strides to promote electrification in certain
transportation sectors, these efforts do not go far enough, nor do they
promote new, innovative technologies that account for the full lifecycle
of transportation fuels.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
A.862B of 2022: Referred to Environmental Conservation. S.2962B of 2022:
Committed to Rules.
A.5262A of 2020: Referred to Environmental Conservation. S.4003A of
2020: Referred to Environmental Conservation.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
The legislation authorizes registration fees for the providers of fuels,
which is intended to offset the cost of administering the program.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
964--A
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 11, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. WOERNER, THIELE, SAYEGH, WILLIAMS, MAGNARELLI,
COLTON, STIRPE, WALLACE, CARROLL, STERN, REYES, FAHY, PAULIN, JONES,
LUPARDO, RIVERA, DICKENS, GLICK, SIMON, ZEBROWSKI, HEVESI, WEPRIN,
ROZIC, SANTABARBARA, WALKER, COOK, VANEL, DINOWITZ, HUNTER, BARRETT,
GUNTHER, SEAWRIGHT, JACOBSON, HYNDMAN, BENEDETTO, AUBRY, McMAHON,
BURKE, JACKSON, BURDICK, ANDERSON, LUNSFORD, BRAUNSTEIN, BURGOS,
CLARK, PEOPLES-STOKES, BRONSON, JEAN-PIERRE, RAJKUMAR, SIMPSON, RA,
CRUZ, FALL, TAYLOR, K. BROWN, DURSO, DILAN, KIM, BICHOTTE HERMELYN,
BUTTENSCHON, CONRAD, DeSTEFANO, GIBBS, MIKULIN, STECK, BORES, RAGA,
ARDILA, SOLAGES, SHIMSKY, McDONALD, LAVINE, DE LOS SANTOS, GANDOLFO,
CUNNINGHAM, EPSTEIN, LEE, SIMONE, L. ROSENTHAL, FORREST, EACHUS,
LEVENBERG, SILLITTI, NOVAKHOV, ZINERMAN, PRETLOW, SEPTIMO, ZACCARO,
MEEKS, PHEFFER AMATO, DAVILA, SLATER, O'DONNELL -- read once and
referred to the Committee on Environmental Conservation -- recommitted
to the Committee on Environmental Conservation in accordance with
Assembly Rule 3, sec. 2 -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered
reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the environmental conservation law, in relation to
establishing the "clean fuel standard of 2024"
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Legislative findings and declarations:
2 1. The transportation sector in New York is a leading source of crite-
3 ria pollutants and the leading source of greenhouse gas emissions that
4 endanger public health and welfare by causing and contributing to
5 increased air pollution and dangerous climate change. Meeting the
6 pollution reduction requirements of the Climate Leadership and Communi-
7 ties Protection Act will require sharp decreases in transportation-re-
8 lated emissions.
9 2. Shifting from today's petroleum-based transportation fuels to
10 alternative fuels has the potential to significantly reduce transporta-
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD01696-03-3
A. 964--A 2
1 tion emissions of air pollutants and greenhouse gases and is recommended
2 by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change as an important pathway
3 for holding global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
4 3. The Climate Leadership and Communities Protection Act directs the
5 Department of Environmental Protection to promulgate regulations that
6 will reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including from on-road vehicles.
7 4. New York signed a 15-state MOU to develop an action plan to reduce
8 toxic diesel emissions from medium and heavy-duty vehicles by 2050.
9 5. A clean fuels standard regulation would promote innovation
10 production and use of non-petroleum fuels that reduce vehicle and fuel-
11 related air pollution that endangers public health and welfare and
12 disproportionately impacts disadvantaged communities. These reductions
13 in air pollution would be paid for by the fossil fuel industry rather
14 than ratepayers.
15 § 2. Short title. This act may be known and may be cited as the "clean
16 fuel standard of 2024".
17 § 3. The environmental conservation law is amended by adding a new
18 section 19-0333 to read as follows:
19 § 19-0333. Clean fuel standard.
20 (1) A clean fuel standard is hereby established. The clean fuel stand-
21 ard is intended to reduce carbon intensity from the on-road transporta-
22 tion sector by no less than thirty percent by two thousand thirty-two
23 and one hundred percent by two thousand fifty. In advance of two thou-
24 sand thirty-two and every five years thereafter, the department shall
25 promulgate regulations determining the minimum carbon intensity
26 reduction to be achieved over the following five years to be implemented
27 based upon advances in technology and to support achieving the goals of
28 the climate action plan established pursuant to section 75-0103 of this
29 chapter as determined by the commissioner. Fuels which provide net
30 human health benefits through overall air quality improvements relative
31 to diesel and gasoline usage shall be eligible. Aviation fuels shall be
32 exempted from the clean fuel standard due to federal preemption, but
33 sustainable aviation fuel shall be eligible to generate credits on an
34 opt-in basis to help encourage development of a viable sustainable
35 aviation fuel market.
36 (2) The clean fuel standard shall apply to all providers of transpor-
37 tation fuels, including electricity, in New York, shall be measured on a
38 full fuels lifecycle basis and may be met through market-based methods
39 by which providers exceeding the performance required by the clean fuel
40 standard shall receive credits that may be applied to future obligations
41 or traded to providers not meeting the clean fuel standard. The gener-
42 ation of credits must use a lifecycle emissions performance-based
43 approach that is technology and feedstock neutral to achieve fuel decar-
44 bonization. In addition to fuel decarbonization, credits generated
45 through the use of clean fuel types will help promote innovation and
46 investment in such clean fuels. For purposes of this section the term
47 "providers" shall include, but shall not be limited to, all refiners,
48 blenders, producers or importers of transportation fuels, or enablers of
49 electricity used as transportation fuel, "carbon intensity" means the
50 quantity of lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions per unit of fuel energy,
51 and "full fuels lifecycle" means the aggregate of greenhouse gas emis-
52 sions, including direct emissions and significant indirect emissions as
53 determined by the commissioner, such as significant emissions from land
54 use changes. The full fuels lifecycle shall be assessed annually at all
55 stages of fuel and feedstock production and distribution, from feedstock
56 generation or extraction through the distribution and delivery and use
A. 964--A 3
1 of the finished fuel by the ultimate consumer, using the most recent
2 version of the Argonne National Labs GREET model, or a derivation there-
3 of that reflects the use of clean fuels in New York. In calculating full
4 fuels lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions, the mass values for all non-
5 carbon-dioxide greenhouse gases must be adjusted to account for their
6 relative global warming potentials compared to an equivalent mass of
7 carbon dioxide over an integrated twenty-year time frame after emission.
8 This conversion shall use the most appropriate conversion relative to
9 global warming potentials as determined by the commissioner based on the
10 best available science.
11 (3) Within twelve months following adoption of the clean fuel stand-
12 ard, the commissioner, in consultation with the New York state energy
13 research and development authority, shall promulgate regulations estab-
14 lishing a clean fuel standard with performance objectives to implement
15 subdivision one of this section. The clean fuel standard shall take into
16 consideration the low carbon fuel standard adopted in California and
17 other states, may rely upon the carbon intensity of values established
18 for transportation fuels in such states and shall include coordination
19 with other Northeastern states to promote regional reductions in green-
20 house gas emissions.
21 (4) The regulations adopted pursuant to this section shall include
22 fees for the registration of providers to offset the costs associated
23 with implementation of the clean fuel standard.
24 (5) Electric utilities, state agencies, and authorities, in consulta-
25 tion with the climate justice working group and the climate action coun-
26 cil established pursuant to section 75-0103 of this chapter, shall, to
27 the extent practicable, invest or direct available and relevant program-
28 matic resources to provide forty percent of such electric utility's,
29 state agency's, or authority's overall credit value on electrified
30 transportation programs, projects, or investments to directly benefit
31 disadvantaged communities, including, but not limited to, electrifica-
32 tion and battery swap programs for school or transit buses; electrifica-
33 tion of drayage trucks; investment in public electric vehicle charging
34 infrastructure and electric vehicle charging infrastructure in multi-fa-
35 mily residences; investment in electric mobility solutions such as elec-
36 tric vehicle sharing and ride hailing programs; multilingual marketing,
37 education, and outreach designed to increase awareness and adoption of
38 electric vehicles; and additional rebates and incentives for low-income
39 individuals beyond existing local, federal, and state rebates and incen-
40 tives.
41 (6) Within twenty-four months following the adoption of regulations
42 implementing a clean fuel standard, the commissioner shall report to the
43 legislature regarding the implementation of the program, the reductions
44 in greenhouse gas emissions that have been achieved through the clean
45 fuel standard and targets for future reductions in greenhouse gas emis-
46 sions from the transportation sector.
47 (7) Nothing in this section shall preclude the department from enact-
48 ing or maintaining other programs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
49 from the transportation sector.
50 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
