What problem would low-carbon fuel standards solve?

Way back in the last millennium, when I was in school, I was taught that “the proper definition of a problem is half the solution.” Based on something I read this morning, it appears that a number of our Minnesota legislators never took that lesson to heart.

In  today’s MinnPost, the following article caught my attention: 

Minnesota lawmakers look to low-carbon fuel standards as a way to address transportation emissions

Unlike the Clean Cars regulations — a controversial mandate from Gov. Tim Walz’s administration — the low-carbon fuel standard is noteworthy for its broader political support.

The fuel standard bill introduced in Minnesota would require a 20 percent reduction in the “aggregate carbon intensity” of transportation fuel supplied to the state by the end of 2035. The intensity measure takes into account more than emissions from a tailpipe. Pollution from electricity generation for EVs, or producing crops for biofuels, is counted, for instance.

Some might be pleased that the legislature is endeavoring to be creative in its approach to transportation emissions. In fact, according to the article, some are. I believe the low-carbon fuel standards miss the point to an unacceptable degree. My belief is based on a review of work completed by Project Drawdown in Climate Solutions 101. Unit 3 of that package is “Reducing Sources.” Here’s the inventory they identify.

Project Drawdown’s Greenhouse Gas Sources

Let me call to your attention the fact that Transportation (teal), on a global basis, is a source of 14% of the greenhouse gases [GHGs]. Food, Agriculture, and Land Use (olive), the source of biofuels such as ethanol, accounts for 24% of GHGs. It seems to me that continued reliance on some of the  products of a greater source of GHGs to reduce a lessor source of GHGs has a distinct potential to be counterproductive. Project Drawdown also recommends a series of solutions for reducing GHGs from the Transportation sector.

Project Drawdown’s Transportation Solutions 

A careful review fails to find any reference to a low-carbon fuel standard. I wonder if anyone in the Minnesota Legislature has heard of Project Drawdown, let alone reviewed its problem definition and proposed solutions. I would concede I’m being nit-picky in this posting except that experts such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the World Resources Institute tell US that we’ve less than a decade to cut our GHG emissions in half. We can’t afford to be like the grasshopper that jumped halfway to the fence each hop. We’ll never get there and our descendants will, quite properly, curse US.

The Problem

By Jane Hirshfield

You are trying to solve a problem.

You’re almost certainly halfway done,

maybe more.

You take some salt, some alum,

and put it into the problem.

Its color goes from yellow to royal blue.

You tie a knot of royal blue into the problem,

as into a Peruvian quipu of colored string.

You enter the problem’s bodegas,

its flea markets, souks.

Amid the alleys of sponges and sweets,

of jewelry, spices, and hair combs,

you ponder which stall, which pumpkin or perfume, is yours.

You go inside the problem’s piano.

You choose three keys.

One surely must open the door of the problem,

if only you knew only this:

is the quandary edible or medical,

a problem of reason or grief?

It is looking back at you now

with the quizzical eyes of a young, bright dog.

Her whole body pitched for the fetch,

the dog wants to please.

If only she could ascertain which direction,

what object, which scent of riddle,

and if the problem is round or elliptical in its orbit,

and if it is measured in foot-pounds, memory, or meat.

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