1. (a) CI Data Reporting Requirement and Deadline. Beginning in 2021, each fuel pathway holder must submit an annual Fuel Pathway Report to the AFP no later than March 31 of each calendar year.

   1. (1) The annual Fuel Pathway Report must include the certified version of the Tier 1 CI Calculator or the CA-GREET4.0 model, if required in the initial certification, updated to include the most recent two calendar years of operational data. If less than 24 months of operational data is reported in an Annual Fuel Pathway Report, the operational data period must include the reported months established during initial pathway certification.
   2. (2) The annual Fuel Pathway Report for Lookup Table pathways listed in 95488.1(b)(2), in lieu of the CI calculator, must include invoices or metering records substantiating the quantity of renewable or low-CI inputs procured from a qualifying source.
   3. (3) Entities specified in section 95488.8(i)(2)(C) must provide the annual attestation regarding environmental attributes required by that provision.
   4. (4) Any fuel pathway holder, including a joint applicant, who is not subject to site visits by a third-party verifier, whose pathway involves the use of renewable or low-CI process energy, must submit invoices for that energy to the AFP. Additionally, for any electricity that is used to reduce carbon intensity of electricity used as a transportation fuel or hydrogen production via electrolysis, the pathway holder must upload records demonstrating that any renewable energy certificates generated were retired in WREGIS for the purpose of LCFS credit generation.
   5. (5) The annual Fuel Pathway Report must include any temporally-variable information requested by the Executive Officer to be included in the initial application as supplementary information, or required data or documentation listed in the pathway summary operating conditions, must continue to be submitted annually as part of the annual Fuel Pathway Report.

   6. (6) Fuel pathway holders must submit 2025 Annual Fuel Pathway Reports following the transition to CA-GREET4.0 procedure described in section 95488(c)(1). Upon receiving a positive or qualified positive verification statement for verification of a 2025 Annual Fuel Pathway Report and subsequent reporting years, the Executive Officer will replace the certified CI with the verified operational CI if this replacement is requested by the fuel pathway holder. The Executive Officer will add a conservative margin of safety to the verified operational CI per section 95488.4(a) upon request from the pathway holder.

      1. (A) The fuel pathway holder may elect to keep the original certified CI.
      2. (B) The fuel pathway holder may request to replace the certified CI with the verified operational CI based on the most recent 24 months of operational data, adding a conservative margin of safety per section 95488.4(a) if the applicant so desires. Fuel pathway holders requesting to replace the certified CI must submit an attestation that the new CI can be maintained through the next reporting period, and acknowledging that exceeding the newly certified CI in subsequent verifications will constitute non-compliance with the requirements of this subarticle.

   7. (7) If the verified operational CI is found to be greater than the certified CI (including provisionally certified) and/or an associated temporary pathway CI for the same feedstock-fuel combination processed at the same facility:

      1. (A) The Executive Officer will invalidate excess credits generated resulting from the CI exceedance for the applicable compliance year in the LRT-CBTS account of the associated fuel reporting entities.
      2. (B) The fuel pathway holder is subject to the deficit obligation for a verified CI exceedance pursuant to section 95486.1(g).
      3. (C) Fuel pathway holders who demonstrate that the verified operational CI exceedances are solely due to calculator updates are exempt from the deficit obligation specified in section 95486.1(g) for the 2025 and 2026 compliance years. To make this demonstration, fuel pathway holders must submit both CA-GREET3.0 and CA-GREET4.0 modeling tools populated with the operational data for the same reporting period for annual verification in the AFP.
      4. (D) Unless the fuel pathway holder satisfies the deficit obligation specified in section 95486.1(g) or the exemption to that deficit obligation requirement specified in section 95488.10(a)(7)(C) applies, the fuel pathway holder of a pathway with 24 months of operational data is out of compliance per section 95488.4(a) and is subject to investigation by the Executive Officer and possible enforcement action.

2. (b) Credit True Up after Annual Verification. Beginning with the 2025 Annual Fuel Pathway Report data reporting year, the Executive Officer shall perform a credit true up for a fuel pathway, including a temporary pathway used by an entity that subsequently receives fuel pathway certification for the associated production facility, that has a lower verified operational CI, upon receiving a positive or qualified positive verification statement for the associated Annual Fuel Pathway Report and quarterly fuel transactions reports, than the previously certified CI, including any margin of safety, that was used for credit generation during the compliance year, notwithstanding the prohibition on retroactive credit generation in section 95486(a)(2). To implement this true up, the Executive Officer will calculate an equivalent number of credits representing the difference between the reported CI and the verified operational CI from Annual Fuel Pathway Reports for each fuel pathway code reported with non-liquid transaction types and with the following liquid fuel transaction types “Production in California,” “Production for Import,” and “Import” during a compliance year, and place those credits in the account of each appropriate fuel reporting entity after August 31 for the prior compliance year. Only reporting quarters for which complete operational data are reported in the applicable Annual Fuel Pathway Report are eligible for credit true up of a temporary fuel pathway.

   The credits will be calculated according to the following equation:

   

   If

   

   where:

   

   is the number of credits representing the difference between the reported CI and verified operational CI for each fuel pathway code;

   

   is the number of credits calculated using

   

   instead of

   

   in the equation in section 95486.1(a)(1).

   

   is determined by the Executive Officer on the basis of the Annual Fuel Pathway Report submitted pursuant to section 95488.10(a) for each fuel pathway code; and

   

   is the number of credits calculated using the equation in section 95486.1(a)(1) for each fuel pathway code.

3. (c) Monitoring Plan for Entities Required to Obtain Validation or Verification Services under the LCFS. Each entity responsible for obtaining validation or verification under this subarticle must complete and retain for review by a verifier, or the Executive Officer, a written Monitoring Plan. Specific requirements for Monitoring Plans are detailed in section 95491.1(c).
4. (d) Verification Requirement and Deadline. Each fuel pathway holder, who is not exempt from obtaining verification in section 95500, must ensure that a positive or qualified positive verification statement covering the annual Fuel Pathway Report is received by the Executive Officer from the verification body pursuant to the schedule in 95500 in order to maintain a valid fuel pathway code for use in reporting fuel transactions. An adverse fuel pathway verification statement would result in investigation by the Executive Officer. It is the responsibility of the fuel pathway holder to ensure this deadline is met.

Note: Authority cited: Sections 38510, 38530, 38560, 38560.5, 38562.2, 38571, 38580, 39600, 39601, 41510, 41511 and 43018, Health and Safety Code. Reference: Sections 38501, 38510, 39515, 39516, 38571, 38580, 39000, 39001, 39002, 39003, 39515, 39516, 41510, 41511 and 43000, Health and Safety Code; Section 25000.5, Public Resources Code; 42 U.S.C. Section 7545; and Western Oil and Gas Ass'n v. Orange County Air Pollution Control District, 14 Cal.3d 411, 121 Cal.Rptr. 249 (1975).

History

1. New section filed 1-4-2019; operative 1-4-2019 pursuant to Government Code section 11343.4(b)(3) (Register 2019, No. 1).

2. Amendment of section and Note filed 6-27-2025; operative 7-1-2025 (Register 2025, No. 26).