After a divisive debate, the New York State Senate voted to lower the sulfur content of home heating oil. (image: nydailynews.com)

New York’s State Senate put New York on the path to join its Northeastern neighbors Maine and Connecticut in mandating low-sulfur heating oil. While the bill passed the New York Assembly by a landslide of 146-1, the State Senate vote proved more contentious and the bill’s passage provoked outrage from several Senators.

The bill, S1145C, would limit the sulfur content of heating oil to 15 parts per million, the same low-sulfur standard that already applies to on-road diesel fuel, and includes a provision for the governor to suspend the requirement if there isn’t sufficient fuel available. The Senate cited the same benefits of low-sulfur heating oil that had previously been cited by the New York Oil Heating Association and the New York chapter of the American Lung Association: lower soot pollution that causes respiratory problems, fewer greenhouse gas emissions, and improved system performance and system efficiency that comes form burning a cleaner fuel. However, the bill’s opponents claim that it will lead to soaring heating oil prices, and even shortages of heating oil, for upstate residents.

Upstate Senators accused their colleagues of not recognizing the needs of upstate residents. NewsChannel34.com of Binghamton, NY quoted Senator Tom Libous:

This legislation passed by Senate Democrats will hurt families and businesses throughout Upstate New York. I am shocked that my Democrat colleagues who represent Upstate communities would support this bill, which benefits New York City and devastates families throughout the rest of the state.

Senator Catherine Young expressed a similar opinion on the Senate floor, reports WBEN of Buffalo:

“It sounds very disingenuous to me, when you say that the people in our regions are winners. That this doesn’t hurt the people in our regions, that it protects them. That’s not true,” Young told her downstate colleagues on the Senate floor. “People are hurting in upstate New York.”

Wherever low-sulfur heating oil legislation has been proposed, it has faced objections that it would create a more costly fuel and lead to fuel shortages. Yet low-sulfur proposals have also enjoyed the support of the state heating oil industry in each case, and the heating oil industry has argued that the move to low-sulfur heating oil will actually expand the available supply of heating oil (because it will have similar specifications to other distillate fuels) and save consumers money through improved efficiency and lower maintenance costs.

The bill remains to be signed by Governor Paterson, but it seems to be only a matter of time before upstate New York (and the rest of the Northeast) moves to low-sulfur heating oil. Already law in Maine and Connecticut, low-sulfur mandates have been proposed in New Jersey and Pennsylvania as well, and the shift to low-sulfur fuels has received added momentum from changes within the refining industry.

Clean heating oil is on the march in the Northeast. The more states that make the switch, the smoother the transition to production and distribution networks of the low-sulfur fuel will be.

Connecticut Governor Jodi Rell (shown here signing a different bill) signed legislation lowering the sulfur content and increasing the biodiesel content of heating oil on May 26. (image: housegop.ct.gov)

Connecticut Governor Jodi Rell recently signed a bill that will put her state at the forefront of the heating oil’s transition into a cleaner and greener fuel. The bill, SB 382, requires all heating oil sold in the state to contain less than 0.3 percent sulfur and at least 2 percent biodiesel by July 1, 2011. The state senate unanimously approved SB 382 on May 3 and the state house did likewise by a vote of 146-1 on May 5. Although the governor’s signature officially made the mandates the law of the state, a provision in the bill holds off final implementation of the requirements until Massachusetts, New York and Rhode Island pass similar legislation. Massachusetts already has a 2 percent biodiesel requirement on the books, and mandate proposals are in the works in the New York and Rhode Island state legislatures.

The Independent Connecticut Petroleum Association (ICPA), a heating oil industry group that helped craft the original legislation, announced the bill’s signing (which actually occurred on May 26) on Monday. An ICPA press release hailed the four main benefits to Connecticut that will result from the law:

Eliminating sulfur and instituting a renewable fuel content in heating oil will come at a cost savings to consumers. It will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 40%. It will work with Connecticut’s burgeoning biofuels industry and add jobs to our state. It will work with existing heating systems, without modification, and improve their efficiency.

Though they may be a favorable alternative to a massive oil spill devastating the Gulf Coast, the effects of oil sands processing can’t quite be called clean or safe. (image: Edward Burtynsky for the Globe and Mail via treehugger.com)

The environmental and economic disaster in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill has made clear the risks of deepwater drilling in search of crude oil. Images of oil-covered seabirds and contaminated beaches on computer monitors and television screens across the country will no doubt bring increased wariness and stricter regulation of deepwater drilling and offshore drilling in general.

Proponents of Canada’s oil sands are taking advantage of this unprecedented situation by singing its praises in contrast to the terrible cost of deepwater drilling gone wrong. But while their praises may seem legitimate in the shadow of the largest oil spill in US history, the environmental devastation and high cost of extracting and processing oil sands have not changed.

Reporting on a speech he made to a business group, the Calgary Herald summed up the message from CEO Bruce March of oil sands developer Imperial Oil: “Canada’s oil reserves offer the only safe and most environmentally friendly source of energy to meet world demands over the next three decades.”  Whether those exact words were spoken by March himself is not clear, but the statement is at best open to debate and at worst deeply misleading. Squeezing synthetic crude oil from oil sands in Alberta requires the excavation of millions of tons of earth in a forested wilderness, contamination of millions of gallons of fresh water that form toxic ponds, and emits millions of pounds of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

Responding to a US trip by Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach that included promoting oil sands to US lawmakers, economist Jeffrey Rubin summed up his criticism:

The tar sands aren’t a greener alternative to deep-water oil. They’re just a more expensive alternative. And the more that synthetic oil from tar sands replaces deep-water production, the more you’ll pay to burn it.

Calling oil sands excavation and processing “effectively a massive strip-mining project with a huge carbon emissions trail,” Rubin expressed disappointment that the tragedy in the Gulf had led some to see the process in more environmentally favorable light. Taking a page from his book that paints a gloomy picture of our petroleum-based global society, Why Your World is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller, Rubin also noted the great economic expense of making useful crude oil out of oil sands and predicted that it would help drive gasoline, heating oil, and other petroleum product prices to staggering highs in the next decade. Those spiking prices, he posits, will bring about profound societal changes; “The very oil prices that are needed in order for tar sands to replace deep-water production are the same ones that will take millions of North American drivers right off the road,” he wrote.

The environmental effects and high cost are not lost on oil sands-men like March, who said his company and others are working to bring down costs and mitigate negative environmental effects:

“Our goal on land use is simple,” he said. “After development is completed, we want no evidence that we were ever there.”

Until that goal is achieved, however, oil sands will continue to be a costly and environmentally taxing source of crude oil, regardless of disasters that result from other methods of oil extraction. True, oil sands operations will never spout millions of gallons of crude into the ocean, but unchecked water pollution, excavation of forests, and greenhouse gas emissions associated with oil sands processing hardly make it a “clean” alternative.

Thomas O’Malley (center, to the left of Delaware governor Jack Markell) and his PBF Energy Partners have provided Delaware’s economy with a shot in the arm by purchasing the refinery in Delaware City. (image: The News Journal/Jennifer Corbett via delawareonline.com)

In November of last year, as slumping demand for refined products shrunk the refining industry’s revenue stream to a trickle, Valero shut down its Delaware City refinery. The permanent closure of the facility dealt a huge blow to Delaware’s economy and resulted in the loss of 550 jobs.

In an uplifting and somewhat surprising turn, the new owner of the refinery announced on Tuesday that it would not only re-open the plant, but also improve and expand it. DelawareOnline.com reported that PBF Energy Partners finalized its purchase of the refinery and announced at a ceremony marking the event that it would expand the refinery’s use to include the production of biodiesel, ethanol, and low-sulfur heating oil.

After the plant’s closing, Valero had planned to demolish it, as it had been fraught with maintenance issues. This led governor Jack Markell to search for a new buyer to salvage the facility. The governor’s efforts helped bring in PBF Energy Partners, a joint venture headed by energy industry veteran Thomas D. O’Malley. PBF bought the refinery from Valero for $220 million.

At the transfer of ownership ceremony, O’Malley announced that PBF had plans to spend $500 million on a new wing of the plant that will produce low-sulfur heating oil and also significantly reduce the facility’s greenhouse gas emissions. The announcement seems to have come as a direct result of legislative and industry trends that call for a major upswing in the production of the low-sulfur fuel. While some refiners aligned with Big Oil have resisted the trend, O’Malley made clear that his company plans to be the first in the industry to embrace it, saying, “We’re going to come out publicly as the first refining company to support low-sulfur heating oil.” The fact that the European affiliate of PBF, Petroplus, which is also headed by O’Malley and is Europe’s largest independent refiner, already produces low-sulfur heating oil makes the transition that much easier.

O’Malley went further in staking out his company’s forward-thinking position in the industry by announcing plans to eventually produce ethanol and biodiesel at the newly-purchased refinery:

From our perspective, biofuels are a reality. They’re going to be around for a long time, and we’re going to be pushing second-generation ethanol production here and trying to put a facility here.

As for the refining jobs lost when the plant closed in November, PBF had more good news. The Delaware City Refining Co. that it created to operate the plant has already begun a $130 million inspection and refurbishment initiative that will create 700 jobs. When the refinery returns to normal operation (which could happen as early as April of 2011), it will employ some 700 full-time and contract workers.

Will the reopening of the Delaware City plant mark the beginning of a revitalization of the US refining industry and gradual transition to producing more green fuels? If so, the still-sluggish economy and low demand for petroleum products will likely hinder the process for months or even years to come. In the meantime, however, heating oil users should be glad that a heating oil producer with an eye on the future will reopen right here in the Northeast, giving a boost to local economies and helping to ensure ample supplies of heating oil (low-sulfur and otherwise) for winters to come.

New York’s City Hall was the scene of a hearing on biodiesel and low-sulfur requirements for heating oil on Friday. (image: wikimedia.org)

To combat air pollution in New York City, the City Council is considering legislation that would clean up the city’s heating oil, which is responsible for a significant amount of the city’s emissions of particulate matter (soot). The Wall Street Journal reported that the New York City Council held a hearing on Friday to discuss the proposal to mandate the use of biodiesel in home heating oil, but the bill would also limit the sulfur content of one grade of sulfur-heavy heating oil (full text of the bill is available at the New York City Council website). The Council’s bill would create a cleaner heating fuel for New York City residents, but would allow for the continued use of residual fuels that are far dirtier than no. 2 heating oil and are responsible for the bulk of the city’s soot pollution.

Previously, city officials had announced their goal of phasing out the use of no. 4 and no. 6 fuel oils, called residual fuels because they are the dirty leftovers from the refining process after gasoline and distillates (no. 2 heating oil and diesel) are skimmed off. New York City’s clean heating oil bill does not call for a ban on those fuels, but does include the following two key provisions:

• All heating oil must contain at least 2 percent biodiesel by October 1, 2011. This provision applies to no. 2 heating oil (the most common grade of home heating oil) as well as no. 4 and no. 6 fuel oil (residual fuels used by industry or large building complexes).
• The sulfur content of no. 4 heating oil must be between 0.1 and 0.2 percent (1,000 to 2,000 parts per million) by October 1, 2012.

Blending biodiesel into heating oil will fulfill the bill’s primary aim of lessening air pollution by reducing heating oil’s sulfur content. Sulfur is responsible for the particulate pollution that is linked to asthma and a variety of other health problems. The bill’s authors also cite other benefits of creating incentives for biodiesel: support for the local biodiesel industry, increased energy independence, and lower emissions of greenhouse gases.

While the bill moves to reduce the sulfur content of no. 4 heating oil, it won’t stop large buildings from burning the heavy residual fuels that cause such a disproportionate amount of particulate pollution. Last December the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) reported that the roughly 1 percent of buildings in New York City that burned no. 4 or no. 6 fuel oil were responsible for 87 percent of the city’s soot pollution. To solve this problem, the EDF proposed converting buildings to no. 2 heating oil, which has a much lower sulfur content.

Representatives from the EDF and another environmental group, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), testified at Friday’s hearing. While supportive of the bill, the EDF and the NRDC asked the City Council to make it stronger. Both recommended a firm cap on the sulfur content of no. 4 heating oil and the addition of standards to ensure that the biodiesel mandate would support local industries and come from biodiesel feedstocks that make the smallest environmental impact. The EDF asked the City Council to remove the commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection’s ability to waive the biodiesel requirements if there was a shortage of commercially available biodiesel or if biodiesel became substantially more expensive than 100 percent petroleum fuel.

It’s not only environmentalists who favor a cleaner, greener heating oil. The national heating oil industry has embraced biodiesel blends and low-sulfur heating oil, and a number of states have passed or are considering clean heating oil legislation with strong industry support. The New York State Assembly has passed a bill that would lower the sulfur content of all heating oil, a bill that is still in debate in the New York State Senate (watch a video of New York Assemblyman Marc Alessi expressing his support for biodiesel mandates here).

Heating oil users in New York, like residents of other areas where heating oil is widely used, stand to gain from the cleaner air and other environmental benefits of such legislation, but a cleaner heating fuel has other benefits for home heating oil consumers. The sulfur in heating oil is detrimental to home heating systems, so heating systems that use cleaner heating fuels require less maintenance. Cleaner fuels also burn more efficiently, so more of the fuel you spend your money on is converted into heat that fills your home.

Converting to a new fuel standard could lead to slightly higher per-gallon prices, but as biodiesel and low-sulfur requirements become more widespread, the supply of clean heating fuel will catch up with demand and help mitigate any price increases.

Students in Westerly, RI spearheaded a program to turn waste cooking oil into home heating fuel. (image: w-i-n.ws)

For seven Rhode Island middle schoolers, “TGIF” has nothing to do with the weekend. Their “Project TGIF—Turning Grease into Fuel” aims to reduce carbon emissions and donate heating fuel to low-income families by turning waste cooking oil into biodiesel. Project TGIF has been such a success that the EPA has awarded the students the President’s Environmental Youth Award, reports the environmental news website SolveClimate.

Biodiesel blended with heating oil, often sold under the trade name Bioheat, is a cleaner-burning heating fuel than 100-percent petroleum based heating oil and is fully compatible with existing heating systems. Some state legislatures have passed laws mandating that all home heating oil contain a percentage of biodiesel, and the heating oil industry has taken the lead in making biodiesel blends the green heating fuel of the future. These Rhode Island students helped raise awareness of this green option in home heating and proved that turning a waste product into a valuable fuel is not just feasible but a win-win situation for all parties concerned.

The sixth-graders from Westerly, RI persuaded the town council to install a waste cooking oil container at the local transfer station to collect used cooking oil from residents, and convinced 64 restaurants to donate their used cooking oil. Having secured the grease, the students partnered with a delivery company and a biodiesel refinery to turn the grease into heating fuel. So far, Project TGIF has collected 36,000 gallons of waste oil, enough to produce 30,000 gallons of biodiesel. According to the EPA, that biodiesel has eliminated 600,000 pounds of carbon dioxide that would have otherwise been emitted into the atmosphere.

But the students were not content with only their environmental contribution. An article in the local newspaper about the difficulty that many families had paying for home heating oil spurred the students to action. They teamed up with local charities to donate 4,000 gallons of Bioheat to 40 families in need of heating assistance.

The students traveled to Washington, DC on Thursday to accept their award from the head of the EPA, Lisa Jackson. The Westerly group was one of ten groups, each from a different region, to win the award. The administrator of the EPA’s New England region, Curt Spalding, spoke about how “impressed” he was with these students:

We have serious environmental problems, but with the creativity and commitment displayed by these students, we can find ways to effectively work toward a cleaner and healthier world.