A California Air Resources Board hearing on whether to renew the standard, known as LCFS, turned into a three-hour debate on whether the regulation is workable or effective. Environmentalists and executives who produce ethanol, biodiesel and other alternative fuels urged the agency to stay the course and keep the standard intact, saying it has helped usher in a new generation of greener products.Oil-industry executives countered that the LCFS is unrealistic and must be adjusted. Board member Daniel Sperling, a transportation professor at UC Davis who helped conceive of the LCFS, said he understands why the petroleum industry chafes against the regulation. “We’re telling them, ‘We want you to change your business model and your main product,’” Sperling said. “I can sympathize with the oil industry.”
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