What Is A Low-Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS)?
Sold to the public as a way to lower the carbon content of fuel and reduce the amount of CO2 emitted from our tailpipes, in reality the Low-Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) isn’t about making the fuels in your vehicle any better, cleaner or more affordable than they already are – it simply seeks to render those fuels more difficult to find and even more expensive to purchase.
State of Play: LCFS in Connecticut
On December 13, 2009, Consumer Energy Alliance vice president Michael Whatley sent Gov. Jodi Rell a detailed letter laying out the precise consequences that the imposition of a statewide LCFS could have on Connecticut residents. Nevertheless, two weeks later, Gov. Rell signed a Memorandum of Understanding with 10 other Northeast and mid-Atlantic states that sets the stage for an LCFS regime to be implemented by the end of next year.
Connecticut, unlike several of its regional neighbors, has yet to announce whether it will study how the adoption of a regional LCFS might impact local fuel supply markets.
Production and Distribution: How/Where Connecticut Gets Its Energy
While Connecticut may rank No. 2 in the nation in the production of oysters, the state unfortunately does not produce any significant energy resources – instead, relying on fuel imports from outside the state and the country that arrive in Connecticut via the port of New Haven.
According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), imports of refined diesel fuel and home heating oil arrive each day from the Netherlands, the Virgin Islands, France, Mexico and Canada. Under the LCFS, fuel resources from both Mexico and Canada would be targeted for eventual elimination – exacerbating the state’s already dangerous status as a “fuel island,” and contributing to a significant and likely immediate increase in price.
But while an LCFS is sure to impact Connecticut residents, the vast majority of LCFS-targeted distillate fuel is consumed by the state’s industrial sector. With higher costs for fuel and dramatically reduced availability of it, the ultimate effect of an LCFS could be significant job loss in the state.
LCFS Impact on Connecticut
Like many Northeastern states, Connecticut relies heavily upon home heating oil to keep warm during the winter. All told, roughly half the households in the state use fuel oil as their primary energy source for space heating – consuming 545,000,000 gallons of the stuff each year.
Last year, Connecticut secured $126 million from the federal Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) to help subsidize the purchase of these fuel resources for those in need. Unfortunately, under the LCFS, a large portion of this fuel oil may be targeted for elimination under a regime that’s fundamentally set up to disadvantage Canadian and Mexican reserves, resulting in higher prices and less access for residents.
