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 Delaware
On December 30, 2009, Delaware joined 10 other Northeast and mid-Atlantic states in endorsing a plan that calls for the eventual region-wide adoption of a blanket LCFS policy. On the day that he signed the memorandum, Gov. Jack Markell lauded the LCFS as a way to “improve our environment and create jobs” by “join[ing] other states in addressing carbon emissions.”
Unfortunately, what Gov. Markell failed to mention is that an LCFS doesn’t actually seek to impact the amount of carbon emitted from our tailpipes – and can’t. According to EPA, the carbon content of gasoline is constant – 19.4 pounds of carbon dioxide emitted for every gallon of fuel combusted.
Production and Distribution: How/Where Delaware Gets Its Energy
Delaware produces none of its own oil or natural gas, and just recently experienced the closure of its only refinery (although news last week indicates that it may re-open in the future). Because of that, the First State is almost completely dependent on others for the energy it needs to run – with most of the state’s petroleum resources piped in from the Gulf Coast, and imported via tanker from foreign suppliers in Canada, Russia, Angola and Azerbaijan.
Nearly 300,000 barrels of oil received at the Port of Wilmington each month is considered “heavy” under the byzantine accounting methodology of the LCFS – and would thus be targeted for eventual elimination.
LCFS Impact on Delaware
Currently, more than 20 percent of households in the state of Delaware use fuel oil as their primary energy source for home heating – not as high a percentage as one would find in New England, but still considered a major source of energy for more than 200,000 Delaware residents. Regrettably, under an LCFS, those who rely on this heating oil are likely to see those resources grow increasingly expensive, as shipments of refined product derived from LCFS-targeted oil become more scarce.
[...] piece thoughtfully identifies the myriad ways in which an LCFS would visit harm on residents of the First State. To wit: “Since Delaware doesn’t produce crude oil and relies on petroleum products being [...]