New Mexico Democrats plan to close biogas loophole

New Mexico politicians have called for the state to close a biogas loophole in the Clean Transportation Fuel Standard.
Writing in the Santa Fe New Mexican, Senator Antoinette Sedillo Lopez and Representative Tara Lujan, said they are introducing a new bill to improve the Clean Transportation Fuel Standard.
This will ensure the standard focuses on clean, renewable transportation fuels and minimises inclusion of fossil fuel-based options, they said.
Pointing to a flaw, they said part of the law could allow factory farms to profit from the programme.
This is done via 'avoided methane crediting', a central tenet of the Central Transportation Fuel Standard.
Both programmes give factory farm biogas - made from animal waste like manure - a negative carbon intensity score.
This means that biogas is treated as if it is cleaner than other renewable fuels, which the politicians said is 'very misleading'.
Facrory farms can earn credits for capturing biogas, and sell these to polluting industries.
The Democratic representatives said this creates a huge financial incentive for factory farms to grow, to earn more credits.
"We are already seeing the effects of this in California, where the low carbon fuel standard has become the largest and most profitable pollution trading programme for factory farm biogas in the country," they wrote.
"As a result, factory farms in California have grown bigger, causing more and more pollution. Between 2012 and 2017, herd sizes in California's San Joaquin Valley grew by 12%. But after avoided methane crediting was added to the low carbon fuel standard, herd sizes grew by an alarming 42% between 2017 and 2022. This shows how quickly factory farms have expanded as a result of this flawed system."
They said that burning biogas releases harmful pollutants into the air.
Similarly, the Clean Transportation Fuel Standard does little to help small farms sell their products.
Consequently, the law stops being an effective climate programme, because it allows biogas to be incentivised.
"The good news is that New Mexico doesn't yet have widespread biogas infrastructure, which means we still have the chance to fix this problem before it becomes a major issue," added the politicians. "By closing the biogas loophole in the Clean Transportation Fuel Standard, we can avoid making the same mistakes that California has made. We can avoid this unintended consequence by acting now. New Mexico has the opportunity to lead the nation in rejecting harmful practices like this.
"That's why we have introduced the Methane Emissions Reduction Act, Senate Bill 99, which will help ensure New Mexico's climate policies are truly focused on clean energy and protecting our communities. We urge our fellow lawmakers to support this bill, so we can take strong action against climate change and protect the future of New Mexico."