“In addition to incentivizing the expansion of factory farms that pollute communities, clean transportation advocates contend that LCFS credits for factory farm methane also perpetuate the false claim that compressed gas, whether it is fracked or from factory farms, is a solution for reducing smog-forming NOx and climate pollution from heavy-duty trucks. NOx pollution from methane powered vehicles is often just as high as NOx pollution from diesel trucks — and at times can be even higher

“The inclusion of credits for factory farm gas in the low carbon fuel standards perpetuates the dangerous myth that gas powered trucks are a viable alternative to electric trucks, when the reality is that switching from one polluting vehicle to another would lock in decades of unnecessary climate and air pollution,” said Paul Cort, director of Earthjustice’s Right to Zero campaign.

A failure to consider the true pollution and climate warming impacts of factory farm gas in the LCFS will impact the efficacy of other transportation pollution reduction policies insofar as they rely on LCFS investments in dairy- and swine-produced fuels. The CARB Board will consider adoption of the Mobile Source Strategy at a meeting tomorrow, which counts on increased production of factory farm gas without consideration of its air, water, and climate impacts, especially in lower income communities and communities of color.”