WA lawmakers should talk to farmers before pushing a low carbon fuel plan | Editorial

For the fourth year, Gov. Jay Inslee is pushing a low carbon fuel plan for Washington state, and for the fourth year in a row the proposal still promises too little benefit to justify the extra cost at the gas pump.

While the arguments for and against the plan haven’t changed much, this year proponents are emphasizing that adopting a Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) will help the state agriculture industry.

The problem is the farmers aren’t buying it.

Farming groups around the state are in fierce opposition to House Bill 1091 and its companion, Senate Bill 5231.

The purpose behind a fuel standard is to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by limiting the carbon intensity in traditional fuels like gasoline and diesel. To make this happen, more biofuels like ethanol and biodiesel would have to be mixed with fossil-based fuels.

Supporters say an LCFS would promote the growth of the biofuel industry in the state. But Ben Buchholz, executive director of the Northwest Agricultural Cooperative Council, disagrees.

Buchholz, who farms in Prosser and Wapato with his father, recently met with the Tri-City Herald Editorial Board. He said, “Proponents keep saying this bill (HB1091) will be great for farmers, and that it will allow them to grow more corn and canola in Washington state. But Washington state doesn’t grow a lot of corn other than what is used for food stock at dairies. Corn is just not as valuable a crop that you can grow in irrigated soil.”

A study last year by Stillwater Associates, a California-based fuel consulting firm, found that 75% of biofuel production comes from the Midwest and other countries.

Buchholz said he believes proponents of Washington’s low carbon fuel plan “are confused where this ethanol would be manufactured.”

He added that behind labor costs, transportation is the farmer’s greatest expense, and an LCFS would jack up gas prices and cut into their profit margin.

“Farmers are price takers, not price makers,” Buchholz said. “We have to take the international price the market will give us.”

While the measure makes an exemption for dyed special fuel that is limited to diesel used on the farm itself, it’s the price of transporting goods on the highway that have farmers worried.

Dana Bieber, spokeswoman for Affordable Fuel Washington — a state LCFS opposition group — told the Tri-City Herald that gas prices have gone up 19 cents a gallon in California since it implemented its LCFS plan 10 years ago, and that it is expected have added 46 cents a gallon by 2030.

And analysis by Puget Sound Clean Air Agency in 2019 concluded that an LCFS in Washington state could raise regional gas prices by 57 cents per gallon by 2030.

In addition, a 2018 report by the California Legislative Analysis Office concluded that the state’s LCFS is the most inefficient approach to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and the state should consider getting rid of it.

That recommendation hasn’t changed, said Bieber. And yet, Inslee continues to push Washington in the same direction as California.

Oregon implemented a fuel standard in 2016, but since it is in its infancy, Bieber said state officials should look to California, which launched its program a decade ago.

Washington state already has the nation’s third-highest gas tax at 49.4 cents per gallon, and now House Democrats have unveiled an ambitious $6.7 billion state transportation plan that, if approved, would add an 18-cent increase to the gas tax.

This, combined with the LCFS, is a big ask for Washington state taxpayers.

We believe in reducing carbon emissions in our state, but it must be a program that doesn’t put most of the burden on farmers, small businesses, families and people with lower incomes.

Farmers care deeply about the environment because their livelihoods depend on good land, clean water and air. State officials should get them on board with a carbon reduction plan before they try to get it approved through the Legislature.

Instead, they are pushing the same flawed idea over and over again, and it is still not worth the cost.

This story was originally published January 29, 2021 at 12:29 PM.