California Code of Regulations › Title 17 - Public Health › Division 3 - Air Resources › Chapter 1 - Air Resources Board › Subchapter 10 - Climate Change › Article 4 - Regulations to Achieve Greenhouse Gas Emission Reductions › Subarticle 7 - Low Carbon Fuel Standard › Section 95488.4 - Relationship of Pathway Carbon Intensities to Units of Fuel Sold in California

Current through Register 2024 Notice Reg. No. 28, July 12, 2024
(a)
						LCFS CIs represent the life cycle greenhouse gas emissions, expressed in a
						per-megajoule of finished-fuel energy basis, associated with long-term,
						steady-state fuel production operations. Actual CIs vary over time due to a
						variety of factors, including but not limited to seasonality, feedstock
						properties, plant maintenance, and unplanned interruptions and shutdowns. A
						fuel production operation will not be found to be in violation of its certified
						pathway based on CI unless a CI calculated from production data covering 24
						months of operations is higher than the certified CI reported for that fuel in
						the LRT-CBTS system. A fuel pathway applicant may add a conservative margin of
						safety, of a magnitude determined by the applicant, to increase the certified
						CI above the operational CI calculated based on the data submitted in the
						initial fuel pathway application, to account for potential process variability
						and diminish the risk of non-compliance with the certified CI. Fuel producers
						labeling fuel sold in California with LCFS CIs (in product transfer or similar
						documents), and fuel reporting entities using those CIs to report the fuel in
						the LRT-CBTS system, must ensure that the fuel so labeled and so reported will
						be found to have a life cycle CI, as calculated from production data covering
						24 months of operation, that is equal to or less than the CIs reported in the
						LRT-CBTS system and on product transfer documents. Fuel reporting entities
						shall not report fuel sales under any LCFS CI unless the actual CI of that
						fuel, calculated as described in this subarticle, is equal to or less than the
						LCFS CI under which sales of that fuel are reported in the LRT-CBTS
						system.
(b)
General
						Rule.
Except as provided in subdivision (c) below, fuel producers and
						fuel reporting entities covered by this regulation order must associate a CI
						with each unit of fuel sold in California. In general, fuel producers and fuel
						reporting entities shall assign all units of fuel produced while a given set of
						production parameters is in effect the same CI, regardless whether those units
						will be sold in California. For example, where a producer uses both biogas and
						natural gas as process fuel, the producer shall assign all units produced a
						single CI that reflects the mix of process fuels used to produce those units;
						the producer shall not assign the units destined for the California market a CI
						associated only with the use of biogas.
A producer or fuel reporting entity may assign a
						  different certified CI only when one or more production parameters changes.
						  Following that change, all units produced while the new set of production
						  parameters is in effect have the new CI, regardless of whether those units will
						  be sold in California.
(c)
Exceptions.
Under the following two sets of conditions, a
						producer or fuel reporting entity may assign different CIs to portions of the
						fuel produced while a given set of production parameters is in effect. Those
						conditions are:
(1) Two or more feedstocks
						are being simultaneously fed into the production process. For example, a
						renewable diesel production facility may feed a mixture of soy oil, tallow, and
						used cooking oil into its production process. Or a hydrogen production facility
						may use both natural gas and renewable natural gas as feedstock for steam
						methane reformation.
(2) Two or
						more co-products are being produced simultaneously. For example, a corn ethanol
						plant may dry only a portion of the distiller's grains it produces; a portion
						of the distiller's grains produced is sold dry, and the remainder is sold
						wet.