California may be leading the league on sale of electric cars and natural gas vehicles, but the state’s energy utilities are still supplying a small percentage of low-carbon transportation fuels. Data released by the California Air Resources Board Sept. 25 show that in the first quarter of 2014, energy utilities supplied just 11.9 percent of the credits under the state’s low-carbon fuel standard. Natural gas accounted for 10.3 percent of the low-carbon fuel credits, and electricity 1.6 percent. Ethanol supplied the bulk of the credits. It weighed in at 61.7 percent. Biodiesel provided 12.5 percent. Renewable diesel delivered 14 percent. The Air Board noted that electricity could easily supply more energy for transportation due to slack generating capacity during nighttime hours—if there is demand. The state’s low-carbon fuel standard seeks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector 10 percent by 2020. * * * * * Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) joined fourteen of her Senate colleagues Sept. 26 in support of the Obama Administration’s plan to curb methane emissions. Noting that methane is 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas, Boxer and her colleagues wrote, “In the absence of Congressional action, we are relying on you to use existing legal authorities to address this dangerous threat.” The lawmakers called for mandatory standards, saying that “voluntary standards are not enough.” The federal Environmental Protection Agency is due to develop specifics for implementing the curbs on methane emissions later this fall. * * * * * Pacific Gas & Electric e-mails to California Public Utilities staff members concerning which administrative law judge should handle the utility’s gas pipeline and storage tariff case oddly mentioned the proposed Hydrogen Energy California project in Kern County. The proposed plant would manufacture electricity from coal and petroleum coke and then capture the carbon dioxide and pump it into the ground for long-term storage. The e-mails posted on the California Energy Commission’s website last month say the utility would “have a harder time on HECA internally as a result of not getting [administrative law judge John] Wong.” A PG&E spokesperson said it was unclear what that meant. The proposed plant does not use natural gas and the utility has no plan at this time to purchase power from the proposed plant. The Sierra Club highlighted the reference to Hydrogen Energy, but said it raised more questions than it answered. Meanwhile, the plant is stalled in the construction licensing process at the Energy Commission as the agency waits for the company to supply additional information about its plans.
