Conservative New Jersey is proud to have guest poster Michael Whatley, Vice President Consumer Energy Alliance back again. This is the third of a series of posts that will explain LCFS (Low Carbon Fuel Standard) and the impact it will have on all of us.

A Low Carbon Fuel Standards (LCFS) Program will cost New Jersey’s consumers. The proposed LCFS program would impose the replacement of traditional fuels with alternative low carbon fuel technologies such as ethanol. Not only will this be expensive, but unrealistic as alternative fuels are not yet available in commercially viable quantities.

NESCAUM’s (Northeast States Coordinated Air Use Management) economic analysis of LCFS, now referred to as Clean Fuel Standard (CFS), attempts to show that this program will actually create a net benefit for the economy. Yet the report is weighed down in assumption, making lofty claims that ignore the real costs of implementing these standards on American consumers.

Last week, stakeholder meetings were held in Baltimore and Boston to discuss the report and its findings. What we found was that NESCAUM’s analysis assumes in all cases that alternative fuel technologies and advanced renewable fuels will be commercially viable and cheaper than traditional vehicles and fuels within two years. Yet we know this is not practical. The reality is that biodiesel is far more expensive than diesel. Biodiesel shortages keep soy prices high and there is not a single commercially viable cellulosic ethanol plant operating in the U.S. today. Even natural gas and electric vehicles are still significantly more expensive than their traditionally-fueled counterparts.

Furthermore, the report leaves out some important side effects of an LCFS. To meet low-carbon fuel demand, the U.S. will be forced into “crude shuffling,” replacing Canadian crude with more light oil from the Middle East, increasing the amount of GHGs involved in transportation, and negating the desired reduction factor of an LCFS. Increased fuel prices will strain businesses and put more American jobs at risk while we send more money to our enemies abroad and reduce our domestic energy security.

These are real costs and real burdens that will be placed on the American consumer under an LCFS program. Until LCFS is supported by real numbers and real facts New Jersey should say no to increased costs, no to lost jobs, and no LCFS.