The U.S. Department of Energy has issued a rule, required by the 1992 Energy Policy Act, that will require states and certain companies to add more alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs) to their fleets.
The rule orders 30% of affected alternative fuel providers' and 10% of states' fleet acquisitions to be AFVs beginning next September, phasing up to 90% for fuel providers in 2000 and 75% for states in 2001.
The rule applies to state government fleets in cities of more than 250,000 persons, to companies in cities that provide alternative motor fuel such as electrical power and natural gas, and major oil companies.
In response to public comments, the final rule delays for 1 year the effective date of the acquisition schedule, includes an automatic exemption to allow time for states to obtain approval of an alternative plan for their fleets, excludes small refineries, and credits states and companies if they acquire medium and heavy duty vehicles that use alternative fuels.
The America Petroleum Institute pointed out that the rule will force all alternative fuel providers, including oil and gas companies that voluntarily manufacture alternative fuels, to buy alternative fueled vehicles and use alternative fuels in their fleets.
API said, "The rule also applies unfairly to businesses that manufacture or sell alternative fuels for nontransportation purposes.
"Even though the Energy Department's final rule is more consistent with the requirements of the Energy Policy Act than its original proposal, it forces a misallocation of private resources.
"In effect, this arbitrary mandate tells companies how to spend their funds rather than allowing the companies the freedom to determine the best uses of their own funds for their operations."
The Natural Gas Vehicle Coalition applauded the rule, saying it sends "a strong, clear, and appropriate signal about the need to increase our use of domestic alternative fuels and move away from our reliance on petroleum based fuels."
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