SB1556 103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB103 26950 CPF 56290 b

103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2023 and 2024
SB1556

Introduced 2/8/2023, by Sen. David Koehler

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

415 ILCS 5/52.15 new

Amends the Environmental Protection Act. Provides that, to the extent allowed by federal law, the Environmental Protection Agency shall propose, within 12 months after the amendatory Act's effective date, and the Pollution Control Board shall adopt, within 12 months after receipt of the Agency's proposal, rules establishing a clean transportation standard to reduce carbon intensity from the on-road transportation sector by 20% by 2038, with further reductions to be implemented at the discretion of the Agency based upon advances in technology. Contains requirements for the Board rules and for the clean transportation standard. Exempts aviation fuels from the clean transportation standard. Provides that producers of sustainable aviation fuel shall be eligible to generate monetary credits on an opt-in basis that may be applied to future obligations or traded to providers not meeting the clean transportation standard. Requires the Agency to submit a report to the General Assembly detailing the implementation of the clean transportation standard, the reductions in greenhouse gas emissions that have been achieved through the clean transportation standard, and targets for future reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector. Contains other provisions. Effective immediately.

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning safety.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Environmental Protection Act is amended by adding Section 52.15 as follows:

(415 ILCS 5/52.15 new)

Sec. 52.15. Clean transportation standard.

(a) The General Assembly finds that:

(1) The transportation sector in Illinois is a leading source of criteria air pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions, which collectively endanger public health and welfare by causing and contributing to increased air pollution and climate change.

(2) Shifting from petroleum-based transportation fuels to alternative fuels has the potential to significantly reduce transportation emissions of air pollutants and greenhouse gases and is recommended by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change as an important pathway for holding global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius. A clean transportation standard would promote innovation in and production and use of nonpetroleum fuels that reduce vehicle-related and fuel-related air pollution that endangers public health and welfare and disproportionately impacts disadvantaged communities.

(3) Credits generated through the use of clean fuel under this Section will promote innovation and investment in clean fuels.

(b) In this Section:

"Carbon intensity" means the quantity of greenhouse gas emissions per unit of fuel energy, expressed in grams per megajoule.

"Clean transportation standard" means the standard adopted by the Board under subsection (c) for the reduction, on average, of life cycle carbon intensity of fuels used for on-road transportation.

"Credit" means a unit of measure generated when a fuel with a carbon intensity that is less than the clean transportation standard is produced, imported, or dispensed for use in Illinois, such that one credit is equal to one metric ton of carbon dioxide equivalent.

"Life cycle carbon intensity" means the quantity of greenhouse gas emissions per unit of energy, expressed in grams per megajoule, included in a fuel and emitted during extraction, production, manufacture, importation, and distribution of the fuel, as calculated annually by the Agency under paragraph (2) of subsection (d) using the methods described under subsection (f).

"Provider" includes, but is not limited to, any refiner, blender, producer, or importer of a transportation fuel and any enabler of electricity being used as a fuel source for transportation.

(c) To the extent allowed by federal law, the Agency shall propose, within 12 months after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 103rd General Assembly, and the Board shall adopt, within 12 months after receipt of the Agency's proposal, rules establishing a clean transportation standard in order to reduce the life cycle carbon intensity of fuels for the on-road transportation sector by 20% by 2038, with further reductions to be implemented at the discretion of the Board, upon its own initiative or upon the petition of any other person, based upon advances in clean fuel technology. The rules adopted by the Board under this subsection shall include fees for the registration of providers to offset the costs incurred by the Board and the Agency that are associated with implementing the clean transportation standard.

(d) The clean transportation standard adopted by the Board shall:

(1) apply to all providers in the State;

(2) be measured based on a life cycle carbon intensity that shall be calculated annually by the Agency in accordance with subsection (f); and

(3) take into consideration the low-carbon clean transportation standards adopted in other states, including the carbon intensity values established for transportation fuels.

(e) The clean transportation standard adopted by the Board may be met through market-based methods by which providers reaching or exceeding the required reduction of life cycle carbon intensity under the clean transportation standard shall receive credits as determined under the rules adopted by the Board. The system of credits created under this subsection shall provide credits based on a life cycle emissions performance-based approach that is technology neutral, feedstock neutral, and has the purpose of achieving fuel decarbonization.

(f) The life cycle carbon intensity calculation conducted by the Agency under paragraph (2) of subsection (d) shall use the Argonne National Laboratory's GREET model and shall include all stages of fuel and feedstock production and distribution, from feedstock generation or extraction through the distribution, delivery, and use of the finished fuel by the ultimate consumer. In calculating the life cycle carbon intensity, the mass values for all greenhouse gases that are not carbon dioxide must be adjusted to account for each of their relative global warming potentials. This adjustment shall be performed using the global warming potential deemed most accurate by the Agency for each greenhouse gas for the period during which reductions in greenhouse gas emissions are to be attained under the clean transportation standard.

(g) Aviation fuels are exempt from the clean transportation standard established under subsection (c), but producers of sustainable aviation fuel shall be eligible under the rules adopted under this Section to receive credits on an opt-in basis that may be applied to future obligations or traded to providers not meeting the clean transportation standard.

(h) Within 24 months after the Board adopts the rules proposed by the Agency under subsection (c), the Agency shall submit a report to the General Assembly detailing the implementation of the clean transportation standard, the reductions in greenhouse gas emissions that have been achieved through the clean transportation standard, and targets for future reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.

(i) Nothing in this Section precludes the Agency or Board from adopting or maintaining other programs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector.

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.