Top: A map highlighting New Mexico’s “Clean Fuel Feedstock Assets” includes a number of dairies — good candidates for generating RNG via anaerobic digestion. Image courtesy New Mexico Environment Department

New Mexico became the fourth state to pass a Clean Fuels Standards, following in the footsteps of California, Oregon, and Washington. State Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham signed House Bill 41 (HB41) in March. The clean fuel standard is designed to reduce the carbon intensity of the state’s transportation fuel mix over time. “This technology-neutral program allows the state to set a standard for the carbon intensity (i.e., amount of lifecycle greenhouse gas emission per unit of fuel energy) of transportation fuels such as gasoline and jet fuel,” explains the New Mexico Environment Department. “Producers or vendors of transportation fuels that produce low carbon fuels (i.e., fuels that are below the standard) generate credits to sell in the clean fuels marketplace. Producers or vendors of transportation fuels that produce high carbon fuels (i.e., fuels that are above the standard) obtain credits in the clean fuels marketplace.” Any low-carbon energy company or fuel vendor, like renewable natural gas (RNG) producers, utilities, and school systems that operate fleets running on low-carbon fuels or using electric vehicles, can sell credits to benefit from the clean fuel market. A map highlighting New Mexico’s “Clean Fuel Feedstock Assets” includes a number of dairies — good candidates for generating RNG via anaerobic digestion. A 2024 revision to HB41 added a 24-month deadline to create regulatory certainty on program implementation.