CARB has updated the Carl Moyer Memorial Air Quality Standards Attainment Program Guidelines. Changes include increased cost-effectiveness limits, especially for the cleanest technologies; infrastructure as a new funding category; expanded co-funding flexibility; and updated calculation methods for emissions.
Representative Doug LaMalfa (R-CA) has introduced the Heavy Truck, Tractor, and Trailer Retail Federal Excise Tax Repeal Act of 2017 (HR 2946), which would repeal the 12 percent federal excise tax on retail sales of trucking equipment. The bill is intended to help small businesses and independent operators purchase new equipment and give a boost to U.S. manufacturing.
The Trump administration’s proposed federal budget for 2018 eliminates funding for the U.S. Department of Energy’s 25-year-old Clean Cities program, which has played a significant role in displacing gasoline and diesel with alternative fuels, vehicles, and infrastructure. According to the DOE, the Clean Cities program leveraged $207.3 million in government funding to attract $2.2 billion in state, local, and private investments in alternative fuels projects from 2006 to 2015. The program’s projects have reduced petroleum consumption by more than 8.5 billion gallons and are on track to decrease it 2.5 billion annually by 2020. Several cities in California participate in the program, including San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, Los Angeles, and Sacramento, as well as towns in the San Joaquin Valley and Long Beach area.
Love’s Trillium CNG will design, build, finance, operate, and maintain 29 CNG fueling stations at various Pennsylvania public transit agency sites through a 20-year agreement. This contract is part of an $84.5 million statewide public-private partnership in which Trillium will also make CNG-related upgrades to existing transit maintenance facilities. So far, Trillium has opened two of the 29 stations.