POET

INTRODUCTION

As part of developing solutions to global warming, the California Legislature adopted the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (the Act; Health & Saf. Code, § 38500 et seq.) and established the first comprehensive greenhouse gas regulatory program in the United States. The State Air Resources Board (ARB) is the state agency charged with regulating the sources of emissions of greenhouse gases that cause global warming. The goal of the Act is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, by regulation to establish a statewide cap on greenhouse gas emissions beginning in 2012. California’s single largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, which include carbon dioxide and other carbon compounds, is the fuel used for transportation. To reduce the emissions from transportation, ARB adopted a number of regulations, including the low carbon fuel standards (LCFS) regulations that require the reduction of the carbon content of transportation fuels sold, supplied or offered for sale in California.

ARB’s task of creating the LCFS regulations was complex and presented many questions of science, economics and law. ARB’s proposed regulations were…