The Californian Biolubes Bill has many opponents, according to Lube Report.
The coalition of ILMA, the American Chemistry Council and re-refiner Safety-Kleen are amongst a wide ranging group who have stated their opposition to the Lubricating oil: biosynthetic lubricants: procurement: sale Bill which mandates that motor oils sold in California after Jan. 1, 2017, have at least 25% “biosynthetic” content.
Amongst other issues, the Bill will require all California State agencies - and their suppliers - to buy only biobased motor oil by January 2016, and would "prohibit on and after January 1, 2017, the sale of lubricating oil in the state unless the lubricating oil meets certain requirements, including meeting or exceeding the minimal standards for biodegradability..."
Lube Report stated that more than 20 organisations opposed the SB 916 legislations, proposed by Sanata Ana Senator, Lou Correa. Amongst those attaching their signature to a letter to the Senator was Clean Harbors - which bought Safety Kleen in 2012 and, more recently, re-refining company Evergreen Oil.
According to the letter, the Bill's opponents have serious objections to the "aggressive" timing and structure of the legislation which, they believe, put an "existing market into the hands of a few companies" and sets unrealistic timescales for delivery. They also claim that the environmental benefits stated in the Bill were unlikely to be achieved in non-lab conditions.
Further questions were raised about the inability to re-refine existing bio-lubes, which clearly will not meet the new legislation and could lead to them being "improperly disposed" according to ILMA.