March 6, 2009 Volume 12 Edition 9 AT&T To Deploy 8000 NGVs Tulsa Schools to Repower 140 Buses to CNG NGVAmerica Members Fill the Halls of Congress President Obama Signs Omnibus Appropriations Act for 2009 EPA Website Highlights Availability of Stimulus Funding VW Presents Natural Gas Touran EcoFuel in Geneva NGVs Rate Highly in Swiss Environmental Vehicle Survey For Sale-New FuelMaker Equipment AT&T To Deploy 8000 NGVs Through an initiative that highlights the growing demand for cleaner domestic vehicles, AT&T, on Wednesday, announced plans to invest up to $565 million as part of a long-term strategy to deploy more than 15,000 alternative-fuel vehicles over the next 10 years. AT&T expects to spend an estimated $350 million to purchase about 8,000 medium-duty CNG vehicles and approximately $215 million to begin replacing its passenger cars with alternative-fuel models. AT&T s investment represents the largest U.S. corporate commitment to CNG vehicles to date. "AT&T and other U.S. corporations have a unique opportunity to partner with the new administration as it works to lead the country out of this economic downturn," said Randall Stephenson, chairman and chief executive officer of AT&T Inc. While there are no easy solutions to the challenges facing our nation, this investment is a first step on our part to help boost other industries while at the same time encouraging wider
use and production of efficient vehicles and domestic fuel alternatives Economic times are tough, but tough times make it even more important to look for efficient solutions. This is part of a long-term strategy that will help us continue to cut operating costs, reduce emissions in the communities we serve and make our business even more sustainable. The Center for Automotive Research (CAR) in Ann Arbor, Mich., estimates that the new vehicles will save 49 million gallons of gasoline and reduce carbon emissions by 211,000 metric tons over the 10-year deployment period. That is equivalent to removing the emissions from more than 38,600 traditional passenger vehicles for a year. The medium-duty chasses will be gasoline vehicles built domestically by a U.S. automotive manufacturer, and then converted to CNG. AT&T also will work with natural gas service providers to build up to 40 new CNG fueling stations across its operating region to provide the fueling infrastructure needed for the new vehicles. In addition, as it begins to retire light-duty gasoline-powered passenger vehicles in its fleet, AT&T has committed to replacing them with alternative-fuel models. AT&T expects to replace 7,100 passenger cars over the next 10 years. During the initial phase of the deployment, gasoline-powered passenger vehicles will be replaced with gasoline-hybrid models. As technologies evolve, additional alternative-fuel vehicle types will be considered for inclusion. In 2009, AT&T will deploy nearly 800 of the CNG and hybrid electric vehicles. A Green Technology insignia will make the vehicles easy to identify on the road. For Tulsa Schools to Repower 140 Buses to CNG The Tulsa Public School District has announced that it will repower 140 diesel buses about half of its fleet to CNG with Emission Solutions engines over the next year. "The bottom line is we will be paying for the conversion with the savings from the fuel costs," said Jim Spear, chief operations officer. To capitalize on federal vehicle income tax credit, the District will innovative. First, the school district will sell the buses in groups of four to 10 for fair market value to Joe Cooper Ford of Tulsa. Second, the dealership will complete the repowers and sell the buses to an Oklahomabased firm called NGV Fleet Partners LLC. Finally, the District will lease the buses from NGV Fleet Partners, with an option to purchase the buses back for a discounted rate after five years. "We've been working on the whole idea for about a year," Spear said. "We went
through all the legal hoops to make sure we could do this and then we had to consider the fuel prices." The sale of the school buses was necessary because tax-exempt entities such as school districts and municipalities cannot qualify for the estimated $18,000 per bus in federal tax credits currently available for CNG conversions. Since NGV Fleet Partners can receive the tax credits, the District will be getting its buses converted for almost $2.5 million less than it would have cost to pay for the repowers directly. For moiré information, contact Emission Solutions Jim Moore at 972.369.0092 or jimmoore@emissionsolutionsinc.com NGVAmerica Members Fill the Halls of Congress This past Wednesday and Thursday, in conjunction with the Spring NGVAmerica Board meeting, NGVAmerica members met with their Members of Congress to ask them to support soon-to-be-introduced legislation extending and expanding federal NGV incentives. That legislation, the final version of which is not yet available, will be sponsored in the House by Rep. Dan Boren (D-OK) and John Larson (D-CT) and, in the Senate, by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT). We currently are working to identify a democratic co-sponsor for Sen. Hatch. Our members visited over 35 House and Senate offices, and the reception to the bill was overwhelmingly positive. NGVAmerica thanks all our members who participated during these two days for their hard and diligent work. Once the legislation is finalized, we will provide you with all the details, and ask you to contact your Members in person or in writing -- to ask them to support these bills. For more information, contact Paul Kerkhoven at 202.824.7363 or pkerkhoven@ngvamerica.org President Obama Signs Omnibus Appropriations Act for 2009 This week, the President signed H.R. 1105, the Omnibus Appropriations Act for 2009 (P.L. 111-08). This bill provides funds for the government through the end of Sept. 31, 2009. Of special interest to the NGV industry, the bill provides no less than $25 million for the Clean Cities program, and $60,000,000 for DERA grants. This is an increase from the FY2008 funding levels which were $12.5 for Clean Cities and $49 million for DERA. The bill also directs the EPA s to consider giving priority DERA funding to ports initiatives especially to ports with the largest volume of activity or ports in non-attainment areas. For more information, contact Paul Kerkhoven at 202.824.7363 or pkerkhoven@ngvamerica.org
EPA Website Highlights Availability of Stimulus Funding The U.S. EPA has posted information on its website on the availability of stimulus funding for several of its initiatives. The America Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) (P.L. 111-5) provides $300 million in new funding for diesel emission reduction grants. According to EPA, the funding for the National Clean Diesel Campaign will be allocated as follows: (1) $156 million for the National Clean Diesel Program; (2) $30 million for the SmartWay Finance Program; (3) $20 million for emerging technologies ; (4) $88 million to states to administer programs; and, (5) $6 million to EPA to administer programs. As is the case with other stimulus funding, there is a priority on getting this money out the door quickly. EPA s website indicates that funding solicitations are expected to be available by March 17. Once the solicitations are formally announced, EPA plans to provide as little as 40 days to submit applications. Funding awards under the National Clean Diesel Campaign ($156 million) are slated for May 2009. For the state funding initiative, state authorities were required to provide notice of intent to apply by March 6. EPA plans to award this funding to state authorities by April 17. Under the above programs, cleaner fuels like natural gas qualify. Repowering of existing engines also qualify. The emerging technology category is reserved for technologies that show promise to significantly reduce diesel emissions and which have not yet been certified by U.S. EPA or California authorities. Eligible applicants include state and local government authorities, air quality or transportation agencies and certain non-profit organizations. EPA s website and information about these funding initiatives can be found at: http://www.epa.gov/otaq/epaecovery.index.htm. Persons interested in requesting funding under these initiatives should work with state environmental agencies, and the regional diesel collaboratives. For more information on this notice, contact Jeff Clarke at 202.824.7364 or jclarke@ngvamerica.org VW Presents Natural Gas Touran EcoFuel in Geneva Volkswagen is unveiling an entirely new bifuel natural gas version of the Touran EcoFuel (the Touran TSI EcoFuel) at the 79th International Auto Show in Geneva, Switzerland. The TSI features a turbocharger and a supercharger ("Twincharger"), reportedly generating more dynamic performance than any other natural gas production vehicle. The fuel economy of the small van, which has a 150 hp engine, is about 50 mpg. When the Touran TSI EcoFuel is equipped with the optional DSG 7- speed dual clutch transmission, fuel consumption is improved by another 4.5 percent.
The vehicle has four natural gas tanks that have a capacity of 7.5 GGE, which gives the TSI a range on natural gas of 230 miles. It also has a small auxiliary gasoline tank, which adds another 90 miles to the vehicles range. For more information, contact Rich Kolodziej at 202/824-7366 or rkolodziej@ngvamerica.org NGVs Rate Highly in Swiss Environmental Vehicle Survey Each year, Switzerland's Transport and Environment Association (ATE) compiles a list of the greenest vehicles available -- known as the EcoMobiListe. This year, natural gas (and biomethane) models took three of the first five 5 places and 4 of the first 10 in the overall category. Among the winners were: Fiat's Grande Punto; Volvo's V70 Multifuel; Mercedes-Benz's B NGT; and Opel's (GM s) Zafira 1.6 CNG. About a third of the 80 greenest models selected for the ten categories are fueled by natural gas/biomethane. By way of comparison, only 7.5 percent were gasoline-hybrid models, while none were ethanol flexfuel models. In the van category, natural gas/biomethane models took the first seven places. The ATE applies an objective system based on specific criteria to several hundred models available on the Swiss market. The winners list (www.ecomobiliste.ch) is published each year just before the Motor Show in Geneva. Some 7200 vehicles now run on natural gas or biomethane in Switzerland and Liechtenstein, fuelled through a network of 112 filling stations. For more information, contact Rich Kolodziej at 202/824-7366 or rkolodziej@ngvamerica.org For Sale-New FuelMaker Equipment If you are interested in the following Fuelmaker equipment, contact Dave Clement at 480.461.5166 or Dave@CNGaz.com 2- FMQ8-36 Compressors, Fast Fill storage with fill hose, manual 3 stage sequence Aux Fuel storage unit; capacity 60 gge Reduced to $70,000.00 for all four pieces.
The NGVAmerica newsletter is an NGVAmerica member benefit and should only be distributed to members of NGVAmerica. Redistribution to nonmembers is strictly prohibited. For comments on the content of this newsletter or for mailing list changes, contact Rich Kolodziej at rkolodziej@ngvamerica.org. 400 North Capitol St., NW, Washington, D.C. 20001 Phone: (202) 824-7366 Fax: (202) 824-7087 www.ngvamerica.org