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The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality is on the road presenting a plan for implementing a low-carbon fuel standard that would, according to a report, create jobs without raising taxes.

released at the end of January examines possible outcomes of decreasing the carbon input of fuels by 10 percent in Oregon by 2012, a standard passed by the Oregon Legislature in 2009 as part of .

The standard emphasizes using alternatives such as biodiesel, ethanol and electric vehicles instead of gasoline and diesel. The standard would regulate importers and producers of fuel, not individual consumers, according to a presentation to the Oregon Energy Forum by Cory-Ann Wind, air quality planner at the DEQ and team lead for the low-carbon fuel standard project. If the price of fuel increased significantly as compared to other states, a mechanism in the standard would allow the program to be delayed.

The process for implementing the standard would also include the creation of a credits market, where those who do not change their fuel-using ways could buy credits from companies that produce low-carbon alternatives.

The DEQ report includes an economic impact analysis performed by Jack Faucett Associates which uses models that show the low-carbon fuel standard would benefit Oregon without costing tax dollars, as low-carbon fuel production within the state would generate outside investment and new business. The analysis predicts that the standard would create between 862 and 29,290 new jobs in a 10-year period. The JFA report emphasizes that the models are not predictions, and Wind said that much of the political opposition to the low-carbon fuel standard disputes the results of the analysis.

According to Wind, the DEQ is currently in the process of engaging stakeholders in the project. The next step is rule-making, which Wind said she hopes would happen by the end of this year.