The objective of this project is to ensure that staff from state regulatory agencies and environmental organizations have access to technically accurate information about biodiesel and its feedstocks, helping facilitate fact-based decision making. It has been our experience that proactive educational and outreach programs lead to improved results during regulatory proceedings.
We expect a three-year regulatory process for the Climate Leadership and Protection Act to begin this fall in New York State. We will need to do a significant amount of technical education with regulators and environmental groups so that biodiesel’s sustainability benefits are understood. Education about other key issues that are likely to arise will also be needed, including issues such as cold flow performance, compatibility with engines and heating oil burners, criteria pollutant emissions, and lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions associated with soybean oil.
If New York State alone adopted B50 Bioheat by 2030, as is the goal of the state’s heating oil trade association and likely mandated by the CLCPA, a new 500 million gallon per year market for biodiesel would be created.