The San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District (SJVAPCD) is now accepting applications for $15 million in Goods Movement Emission Reduction Program funding through Prop. 1B. Most alternative-fuel class 5–8 trucks from model year 2016 and later are eligible for funding, including NGVs. Applicants must be in the business of moving goods within designated trade corridors and must have operated at least 75 percent of their business in California and 10 percent within SJVAPCD boundaries for the last two years. This program provides incentives to replace or repower heavy-duty diesel trucks, which applicants must scrap or surrender; it does not fund fleet expansions. Applications are due to the SJVAPCD by Friday, July 28.
For the first time since November 2015, demand for current permits to release greenhouse gases from 2017 through 2020 exceeded supply, generating almost $500 million for California. The auction sold out of the 75 million current vintage allowances, at prices above the minimum, offered in the first quarterly auction since a California state appeals court upheld the cap-and-trade program. However, demand remained low for advance permits that allow for future pollution; only 22 percent of those permits were sold at the auction. The program’s future remains in doubt as it nears its 2020 expiration date. Gov. Brown is pushing to extend it with a two-thirds vote, and three separate bills authorizing the cap-and-trade program past 2020 are pending in the Legislature. Both AB 151 and AB 378 have passed the Assembly Appropriations Committee. SB 775, however, is stalled in the Senate Environmental Quality Committee, which has indefinitely postponed its hearing.
U.S. District Court Judge Charles Breyer has signed two partial consent decrees that require Volkswagen to pay $225 million, including $66 million earmarked for California, in penalties for selling 3.0-liter diesel passenger vehicles with emissions defeat devices installed. Volkswagen, CARB, the EPA, and the U.S. Department of Justice signed the agreements; one decree is national, while the other is specific to California. California will receive $41 million from the national agreement and another $25 million from the state-specific agreement. These are partial consent decrees separate from the nearly $15 billion decree signed earlier this year to settle the lawsuit involving the manufacturer’s 2.0-liter diesel cars.
A new class-action lawsuit accuses automaker General Motors of installing software to cheat on diesel emissions tests in more than 705,000 Chevrolet Silverado 2500HD and GMS Sierra 2500HD pickups from 2011 to 2016. The lawsuit, filed by the Seattle firm Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro, says GM used at least three defeat devices to ensure that the trucks met federal and state emission standards. CARB, the EPA, and the U.S. Department of Justice have all declined to comment on the suit or on a possible investigation of the GM vehicles. GM has denied the claim, saying the trucks comply with both EPA and California emissions standards.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Justice Department has filed a civil lawsuit against Fiat Chrysler Automobiles claiming that it used illegal software to bypass emission controls in 104,000 2014–16 Jeep Grand Cherokee and Dodge Ram 1500 diesel vehicles. The suit, which follows complaints from the EPA and California, refers to eight software-based features that decrease the effectiveness of the emissions control systems while the vehicles are being driven. The lawsuit asks the court to require Fiat Chrysler to fix the vehicles, bar it from selling vehicles that produce excess emissions, and levy civil penalties of as much as $4.6 billion.
Both lawsuits were filed in the U.S. District Court in Detroit.
CARB’s 2016 Compliance Report for the Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) shows 100 percent compliance with the regulation. CARB called this finding “evidence that renewable fuels are replacing fossil fuels” more and more each year, resulting in significant greenhouse gas emission reductions. Of the 224 companies reporting in 2016, 54 reported deficits and had to buy credits to comply with the standard. Last year, the LCFS program enabled renewable liquid fuels to displace more than 400 gallons of diesel and RNG to displace more than 80 million gallons of diesel, according to CARB. The report also shows that fuel producers continued to overcomply with the regulation, generating 9.1 million credits against 6.8 million deficits.
BurbankBus has added six 35-foot ElDorado National-California Axess low-floor CNG-powered buses to its fleet, covering four routes in the city. A federal grant issued by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority paid for 75 percent of the new buses, which cost $469,000 each. The CNG buses will replace smaller, 13-year-old CNG transit buses.
San Diego Gas & Electric has upgraded its Miramar public CNG fueling station with more-powerful compressors that improve fill speed and reliability, as well as larger tanks for greater fuel capacity. It also added energy-efficient lighting. SDG&E is planning similar upgrades to its Kearny Mesa and Carlsbad stations, and intends to open more CNG stations to the public to meet growing demand.
CSA Group has published a new edition of the CSA/ANSI NGV 1—Compressed Natural Gas Vehicle Fueling Connection Devices standard, which establishes requirements for making vehicle fueling connection devices compatible. It has updated the standard to include provisions for the larger-diameter heavy-duty vehicle refueling nozzles and receptacles, as well as for the geometry of the lower-pressure nozzles and receptacles used for adsorbed natural gas. According to the CSA Group, the update is intended to create standardized CNG filling connections.
NGVAmerica, the American Public Gas Association, and the American Gas Association are running the second annual “From Sea to Shining Sea” NGV road rally, which starts in Long Beach on June 5 and ends in Washington, D.C., on June 16. Coalition members Agility Fuel Solutions, Clean Energy Fuels, Cummins Westport, Southern California Gas Company, Trillium CNG, and TruStar Energy are all sponsoring the 18-stop, 4,825-mile event. SoCalGas and Clean Energy Fuels will provide drivers and fuel along the way. Thomas Lawson, Coalition president, will join the rally kickoff. Details are in this news release.