NATSO and SIGMA urge US DOE to adopt market-oriented approach

NATSO and SIGMA, responding to a request for information, urged the DOE to harness the decarbonisation benefits of renewable diesel and biodiesel, rather than pursue policies that will destroy demand for over-the-road biofuels that have been reducing ground emissions for decades.

"The Biden Administration should not surrender the market's ability to deliver dramatic near-term emissions savings by imposing a top-down, hurried transition to one technology," NATSO and SIGMA wrote in their comments to the DOE. "The Administration should harness the near-term decarbonisation potential of low-carbon options like biodiesel and renewable diesel, in addition to incentivising more aspirational longer-term technologies."

Preferential treatment for SAF for reducing transportation carbon emissions will unravel decades of existing carbon reductions in over-the-road transportation, while increasing fuel prices for commercial fleets.

SAF is more energy intensive to produce and saves less carbon emissions than renewable diesel, according to a research study conducted by LMC International, titled 'Comparative Economic Analysis of Renewable Jet Fuel and Renewable Diesel.' Because these fuels compete for the same feedstock, prioritising SAF will undercut and eventually eliminate America's biodiesel and renewable diesel market as disproportionate pressure is placed on feedstock.

The trucking industry delivers more than 80% of the the country's goods and relies on biofuels, including renewable diesel and biodiesel, to dramatically reduce carbon emissions. Biofuels represent the best opportunity for reducing carbon emissions from the nation's existing commercial fleet of trucks for the foreseeable future.

By implementing strategies that promote parity between over-the-road and aviation renewable fuels that compete for the same feedstock, the Administration has an opportunity to lower the cost of fuel for trucking fleets and commercial drivers and ensure fuel market stability, while advancing its goal of reducing transportation's carbon footprint. One such strategy is for the Department of Treasury to subject SAF to more stringent lifecycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions modelling requirements under the tax credits enacted under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

Read the article online at: https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/clean-fuels/06112023/natso-and-sigma-urge-us-doe-to-adopt-market-oriented-approach/