California tightens clean transportation standards

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By Julie Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle. 

Excerpt: California air quality regulators on Friday tightened a key environmental program credited with reducing the amount of pollution churned out by cars and trucks but criticized for raising the state’s already high gasoline prices. The California Air Resources Board voted 12-2 on Friday to strengthen the Low Carbon Fuels Standard, which creates financial incentives for oil and gas companies that slash emissions from transportation fuels and adds costs to companies that don’t. ...The air board said the hallmark program, established in 2011, has doubled the volume of low carbon fuels such as renewable diesel on the market, slashed regular diesel consumption in half and generated $4 billion oil and gas industry investments in cleaner fuels and technology. ...The standard works by rewarding oil and gas companies for lowering the carbon intensity of fuels, which encompasses the greenhouse gas emissions produced throughout their life cycle, from refining, transportation, gas stations and tail pipes.... 

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