Bill > S2425

Introduced Session

This bill would establish a low-carbon transportation fuel standard program in the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). Under the program, each refiner, wholesaler, or importer of diesel or gasoline, and each producer of alternative fuel, would be required to ensure that the fuel refined, sold, imported, or produced by the entity, as applicable, and supplied for use in the State, meets the low-carbon transportation fuel standard, on an annual basis. The low-carbon transportation fuel standard would be a maximum level of greenhouse gas emissions associated with the entire life-cycle of a given unit of fuel, including its production, transportation, and consumption. An alternative fuel, under the bill, is any fuel used for transportation other than gasoline or diesel. Such fuels could include hydrogen, biodiesel, or electricity. In implementing the program, the DEP would be required to establish a system of salable and tradable credits and deficits, under which a given unit fuel that exceeds the low-carbon transportation fuel standard would generate a credit and a given unit of fuel that does not meet the standard would generate a deficit. Entities regulated under the program would be required to ensure that they do not generate any net deficits in a given year, after offsetting their deficits with credits they generate or purchase from third parties. The bill would establish certain requirements for the low-carbon transportation fuel standard program, as enumerated in subsection b. of section 3 of the bill, including the requirement that the program reduce the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the diesel and gasoline used in the State by 10 percent below 2019 levels by the year 2030. The bill would also enumerate certain optional requirements for the program, in subsection c. of section 3 of the bill, including mechanisms whereby producers of alternative fuel can voluntarily opt-in to the program to generate credits when the fuel use displaces the combustion of gasoline or diesel for a non-transportation use. Finally, the bill would direct the DEP to consult with fuel and transportation experts while developing the program, and it would authorize the DEP to consider linking New Jersey's program with similar policies in other jurisdictions.

Committee Categories

John McKeon (D)*,  Bob Smith (D)*, 

Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Environment and Energy Committee (on 01/29/2024)

Official Document