CEA kicks off campaign against low-carbon fuel standard

The Consumer Energy Alliance says carbon standard legislation “in any form” will hike gas prices, cost jobs and force American dependence on more expensive oil from the Middle East.

The Trucker Staff

9/1/2009

As Congress gets ready to grapple with energy and climate legislation in the coming months, a 125-member group comprising oil companies, retailers, trucking and transportation groups, consumers and others, is taking its campaign against a low-carbon fuel standard (LCFS) to the people.

Even though low carbon provisions were gutted from the Waxman-Markey bill this summer and low-carbon fuel bills are stalled in House and Senate committees, the Consumer Energy Alliance (CEA) is undertaking a grassroots educational campaign against such measures because according to CEA Vice President Michael Whatley, a low-carbon provision will surely rear its head again.

Whatley and CEA President David Holt said today in a telephone press conference that LCFS legislation is either being considered or already in the works in four states, including California, and is sure to be included in bills coming down the pike.

They said LCSF legislation “in any form” will hike gas prices, cost jobs and force American dependence on more expensive oil from the Middle East.

Why?

According to CEA, a low carbon fuel standard assigns a carbon value to all fuel, taking into account how many harmful emissions are put into the air during recovering the fuel from out of the ground, the amount of high-carbon emissions expended in refining and transporting it and finally, the amount of carbon in tailpipe emissions.

They’re concerned that oil from Canada, because it’s largely produced from sands with a nastier carbon footprint before coming to the U.S. to be refined, would face stiff penalties under such legislation, forcing American dependence upon costlier fuel from less friendly countries.

Saudi Arabian light crude requires less energy to produce than heavy crude reserves from Canada and Mexico — and from Colorado and California. However, “each barrel of crude contains roughly the same number of carbon atoms — no matter where it comes from,” CEA literature states.

The Associated Press reports that a recent Obama administration decision to give the go-ahead to new pipelines to carry crude from Canadian oil sands suggests energy security could outweigh environmental concerns.

CEA spokesmen during the press conference didn’t give a figure on how much LCFS legislation might increase at-the-pump gasoline, but AP quoted the CEA as saying it would go up by at least 60 cents a gallon.

And, the AP story added that the Congressional Research Service, independent consultants and others agree that low-carbon fuels would likely lead to more expensive fuel because there would be less “clean” oil from which to choose.

The news service report said the carbon fuel question has the potential of heating up as much as the debate over health care.

Among members of the group are the American Trucking Associations, the American Bus Association, the American Highway Users Alliance, ConocoPhillips, Exxon, BP, Peabody, the National Association of Manufacturers and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

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Dorothy Cox of The Trucker staff may be reached to comment at dlcox@thetrucker.com.