OAR 340-253-0400: Carbon Intensities

(1) OR-GREET. Carbon intensities for fuels must be calculated using OR-GREET 4.0 or a model approved by DEQ. If a party wishes to use a modified or different lifecycle carbon intensity model, it must be approved by DEQ in advance of an application under OAR 340-253-0450. (2) DEQ review of carbon intensities. DEQ will regularly review the carbon intensities used in the CFP and must consider, at a minimum, changes to: (a) The sources of crude and associated factors that affect emissions such as flaring rates, extraction technologies, capture of fugitive emissions, and energy sources; (b) The sources of natural gas and associated factors that affect emissions such as extraction technologies, capture of fugitive emissions, and energy sources; (c) Fuel economy standards and energy economy ratios; (d) GREET, OR-GREET, CA-GREET, WA-GREET, GTAP, AEZ-EF or OPGEE; (e) Methods to calculate lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions; (f) Methods to quantify indirect land use change; and (g) Methods to quantify other indirect effects. (3) Statewide carbon intensities. (a) Registered parties must use the statewide average carbon intensities listed in Table 4 under OAR 340-253-8010 for the following fuels: (A) Clear gasoline or the gasoline blendstock of a blended gasoline fuel; (B) Clear diesel or the diesel blendstock of a blended diesel fuel; (C) Fossil CNG;; and (D) Fossil LPG. (b) For electricity suppliers, (A) The statewide average electricity carbon intensity is calculated annually under OAR 340-253-0470 and posted on the DEQ website. (B) A registered party may use an electricity carbon intensity different from the statewide average under subsection (b)(A) if: (i) The utility has applied for and received an individual carbon intensity under OAR 340-253-0470(3); (ii) The party generates lower carbon electricity at the same location as it is dispensed into a motor vehicle consistent with the conditions of the approved fuel pathway code under OAR 340-253-0470(4); or (iii) The party retires RECs to claim renewable electricity from offsite consistent with the requirements of OAR 340-253-0470(5). (4) Carbon intensities for established fuel pathways. Except as provided in sections (3) or (5), registered parties may use a carbon intensity that: (a) CARB has certified for use in the California Low Carbon Fuel Standard program, that has been adjusted for fuel transportation distances, indirect land use change and other comparable adjustments, and that has been reviewed and approved by DEQ as being consistent with OR-GREET 3.0; or (b) Matches the description of a fuel pathway listed in Table 4 under OAR 340-253-8010. (5) Primary alternative fuel pathway classifications. If it is not possible to identify an applicable carbon intensity under either section (3) or (4), then the regulated party, credit generator, or aggregator has the option to develop its own fuel pathway and apply for it to be certified under 340-253-0450. Fuel pathway applications fall into one of two tiers: (a) Tier 1. Conventionally-produced alternative fuels of a type that have been well-evaluated in the Oregon and California low carbon fuel standards. Tier 1 fuels include: (A) Starch- and sugar-based ethanol, and ethanol from corn kernel fiber cellulose; (B) Biodiesel produced from conventional feedstocks such as plant oils, tallow and related animal wastes and used cooking oil; (C) Renewable diesel, propane, naphtha, or alternative jet fuel produced from conventional feedstocks such as plant oils, tallow and related animal wastes and used cooking oil using a hydrotreater; (D) Natural Gas; (E) Biomethane from landfills; anaerobic digestion of dairy and swine manure or wastewater sludge; and food, vegetative or other organic waste; (F) Biogas to electricity; (G) Hydrogen; (b) Tier 2. All fuels not included in Tier 1 including but not limited to: (A) Cellulosic alcohols; (B) Biomethane from other sources; (C) Biogenic feedstocks co-processed at a petroleum refinery; (D) Tier 1 fuels using innovative methods, including but not limited to carbon capture and sequestration or a process that cannot be accurately modeled using the simplified calculators, or where the applicant seeks to modify any emissions factor contained in a Tier 1 calculator; and (E) Any other fuel not listed as a Tier 1 fuel. (6) Specified source feedstocks. Fuels that are produced from a specified source feedstock may be eligible for a reduced carbon intensity value when applying under OAR 340-253-0450 so long as they meet all of the following requirements: (a) Specified source feedstocks are non-primary products of commercial or industrial processes for food, fuel or other consumer products and include, but are not limited to: (A) Used cooking oil, animal fats, fish oil, yellow grease, distiller’s corn oil, distiller’s sorghum oil, brown grease, and other fats, oils, and greases; (B) Small-diameter, non-merchantable forestry residues removed for the purpose of forest fire fuel reduction, or forest stand improvement, and from a treatment where non-clear cutting occurred; (C) Municipal solid waste that is diverted from landfill disposal; and (D) Any feedstock designated as such under OAR 340-253-0450(10)(d). (b) The specified source feedstocks are used in fuel pathways for biodiesel; renewable diesel; alternative jet fuel; co-processed refinery products; biomethane supplied using book and claim accounting and claimed as a feedstock for CNG, LNG, L-CNG; or steam-methane reformation produced hydrogen; (c) Under OAR 340-253-0450(10)(d), any feedstock can be designated as a specified source feedstock if requested by a supplier using site-specific carbon intensity data or if it is specified in a fuel pathway approval condition; and (d) Chain-of-custody evidence must be used to demonstrate the proper characterization and accuracy of the quantity of the specified source feedstocks going into a fuel production facility or claimed as biomethane, subject to all of the following provisions: (A) Chain-of-custody evidence must be provided to the verifier and to DEQ upon request; (B) Joint applicants may assume responsibility for different portions of the chain-of-custody evidence; (C) Fuel pathway applicants using specified source feedstocks must maintain either: (i) Delivery records that show shipments of feedstock type and quantity directly from the point of origin to the fuel production facility; or (ii) Information from material balance or energy balance systems that control and record the assignment of input characteristics to output quantities at relevant points along the feedstock supply chain between the point of origin and the fuel production facility; and (e) In order to maintain the fuel pathway, the fuel producer and any joint applicant must meet the following requirements: (A) Maintain records of the type and quantity of feedstock obtained from each supplier, including feedstock transaction records, feedstock transfer documents pursuant to (f), weighbridge tickets, bills of lading or other documentation for all incoming and outgoing feedstocks; (B) Maintain records used for material balance and energy balance calculations; and (C) Ensure DEQ staff and verifier access to audit feedstock suppliers to demonstrate proper accounting of attributes and conformance with certified CI data. (f) Requirements for Feedstock Attestation Letter. Each entity in the supply chain for a specified source feedstock must maintain a specified source feedstock attestation letter. This applies to both pathways that are originally certified by DEQ and those that are recertifications of CARB-approved pathways. The specified source feedstock attestation must make the following specific attestations: (A) The specified source feedstocks have not undergone additional processing, such as drying or cleanup, except as explicitly included by the fuel producer in their lifecycle analysis and pathway carbon intensity; (B) All data and information supplied to the fuel producer and DEQ are true and accurate in all areas, including but not limited to: (i) Specified Source Feedstocks meet the applicable definitions of this division or as defined in the pathway conditions approved by DEQ during the certification of this producer’s fuel pathway application; (ii) Deliveries of the specified source feedstock(s) consist entirely of what is documented on the feedstock transfer documents and are not mixed or altered with any materials that do not meet the definition of that specified source feedstock; and (iii) The specified source feedstocks were not intentionally produced, modified, or contaminated to meet the definition; and (C) The signed specified source feedstock supplier attestation letter must: (i) Be maintained by that feedstock supplier, and submitted as an electronic copy upon request by a verifier, verification body, or DEQ; (ii) Be on company letterhead; (iii) Be maintained separately for each specified source feedstock; (iv) Be signed by an authorized representative employee of the specified source feedstock supplier; and (v) Include the following attestation that has been signed and dated: “I certify that the [insert name of specified source feedstock in question] supplied by [insert name of facility or company] meets all of the following requirements: 1) the specified source feedstock meets the definition under the Oregon Administrative Rule 340-253-0040, or the specified source feedstock definition included in the operating conditions of the fuel producer’s pathway application this feedstock is being supplied to; 2) the specified source feedstock has not undergone additional processing, such as drying or clean-up, except as explicitly included in the pathway lifecycle analysis and carbon intensity; 3) deliveries of the specified source feedstock consist entirely of what is documented on the feedstock transfer documents and are not mixed with any other materials that do not meet the definition of specified source feedstock; and 4) the specified source feedstock was not intentionally modified or contaminated to meet this definition. By signing this letter, [insert name of feedstock supplier] accepts responsibility for the information herein. I certify under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of Oregon that I have personally examined, and am familiar with, the statements and information in this document. I certify that the statements and information are true, accurate, and complete.” (7) The carbon intensity value certified under OAR 340-253-0450, including any margin of safety requested by the fuel producer or imposed as a condition of approving a pathway, is the maximum carbon intensity value that a fuel can be reported in the CFP. The actual operational carbon intensity of a fuel will be calculated from the most recent production data covering 24 months of the fuel production facility’s operation. Registered parties may not report fuel transactions under any certified carbon intensity unless the actual operational carbon intensity is equal to or less than the certified CI. (8) Fuel producers labeling fuel sold in Oregon with a carbon intensity under the CFP and registered parties using those labeled carbon intensities to report in the Oregon Fuels Reporting System, must ensure that the fuel so labeled and reported will be found to have an actual operational lifecycle carbon intensity equal to or below its certified carbon intensity. (9) Transition from OR-GREET 3.0 to OR-GREET 4.0. OR-GREET 3.0 pathways and recertifications of CA-GREET 3.0 pathways shall remain valid for 2025 reporting. Only OR-GREET 4.0 or recertified CA-GREET 4.0 pathways may be used for reporting from 2026 onward. New fuel pathway applications made using OR-GREET 3.0 will not be accepted in 2025, but DEQ will review any pending OR-GREET 3.0 pathway applications it receives prior to January 1, 2025. New recertification applications for CA-GREET 3.0 pathways will not be accepted after March 31, 2025.