Clean Fuel Standard Directed Benefit Mechanisms to Promote Equity

The transportation sector contributes the largest share of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the United States and is one of the most difficult to decarbonize. One policy to reduce GHG emissions in the United States is a Clean Fuels Standard (CFS), which requires fuel suppliers to reduce the carbon intensity of their fuels in the aggregate. California, Oregon, and Washington have already implemented such a program, and New Mexico is in the process of doing so. A CFS also produces important co-benefits, such as reduction of conventional health-damaging air pollutants, mobility, and economic development benefits. However, these benefits may not be distributed equally among all communities. In this article, EELP’s Abby Husselbee, University of New Mexico’s Gabe Pacyniak, and attorney Cara Lynch describe how the three existing programs use mechanisms that seek to direct these benefits to promote a more equitable transportation system, identifies other mechanisms that could be used or similar purposes, and notes legal considerations for expenditures of revenues to provide benefits. Publication is forthcoming in the spring edition of the Texas Environmental Law Journal.