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National
Clean Bus Network
Environmental & Energy Study Institute
March/April 2003 Clean Bus Update
The Clean Bus
Update is a monthly electronic periodical that provides an overview
of current program and policy activities related to clean buses,
including advanced vehicle technology issues, alternative fuels,
clean air, and energy efficiency. The National Clean Bus Network is
an informal coalition of public and private sector organizations
working to increase the use of a broad range of cleaner bus
technologies. Email
Ray Minjares or visit the
National Clean Bus Project website for more info.
Key House
Committee Advocates for Greater Investment in Transit
Citing a study
by the Texas Transportation Institute that estimates a loss of $67.5
billion to the economy from traffic congestion in the year 2000,
Chairman Don Young (R-AK) and ranking member James Oberstar (D-MN)
of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee are
circulating a proposal to increase funding levels for the combined
highway, transit, motor carrier and National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration programs. The Transportation Equity Act for the 21st
Century (TEA-21) passed in 1998 to fund these programs is scheduled
to expire Sep 30. The proposal requests $50 billion in budget
authority for FY2004, with annual increases of $5 billion until
fiscal year 2009, totaling $375 billion over the five-year period.
The additional revenue needed to support the increase in investment
would come from the retroactive indexing of the federal gasoline and
diesel taxes to the year 1993, elimination of the gasohol subsidy,
redirection of gasohol and interest revenue to the Highway Trust
Fund, use of the existing Highway Trust Fund balance, and increased
surveillance over user fee evasion.
Senator Dodd
Questions Bush Administration Proposal to Abandon Guaranteed Funding
Levels for Clean Fuels Formula “Clean Bus” Program in FY ‘04
The Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee held a
hearing March 13 to consider the President’s 2004 budget proposal
for the Federal Transit Administration. The proposal recommends
keeping funding levels at $7.2 billion, equal to the
administration’s request for the previous fiscal year, while
providing less than the amount guaranteed to the Clean Fuels Formula
Grant Program by TEA-21 legislation enacted in 1998. The Clean Fuels
Program was authorized to provide funds for the purchase and lease
of alternative fueling infrastructure for buses and bus vehicles
powered by alternative fuels and advanced vehicle technologies. For
fiscal years 1999 to 2003 Congress failed to appropriate minimum
funding guarantees for the program by instead diverting resources to
the bus and bus-related categories of the Capital Investment Grants
and Loans Program. After much delay the Department of Transportation
published final rules for the Clean Fuels Grant Program in June of
2002. In a question to Jennifer Dorn, Administrator of the Federal
Transit Administration, Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT) expressed
his dismay at the administration’s failure to support clean fuels
infrastructure, given the top priority the President placed on
hydrogen and fuel cell technologies during his State of the Union
Speech in February. The Senator mentioned a project under
development in the state of Connecticut to establish a fuel cell bus
rapid transit system and urged reconsideration of the current clean
fuels funding proposal.
Clean Cities
Coordinators Express Concern at Secretary Abraham’s Energy Views
On Wednesday, March 19, “The Hill” newspaper
published an exchange between reporters and Secretary of Energy,
Spencer Abraham, in which he states, after a lengthy discussion of
hydrogen technologies, that there “is no solution in the meantime”
to reducing our dependence on foreign oil. Struck by the Secretary’s
lack of consideration for alternative fuels and technologies
available today, including biodiesel, ethanol, electricity, hybrid
engines, natural gas and propane, nearly fifty clean cities
coordinators have signed a letter addressed to Secretary Abraham to
express their dismay at his recent comments and make him aware of
successful alternatives already in use. The Clean Cities Program was
established with passage of the Energy Policy Act of 1992. Operating
under the Department of Energy, the Clean Cities program consists of
approximately 80 coalitions voluntarily formed to accelerate
deployment of vehicles and infrastructure to improve air emissions
and reduce petroleum consumption. While it is the nation’s premier
alternative fuels and technologies deployment mechanism, the
President’s budget proposal for FY’04 has requested that its funding
be cut.
House and Senate Budget Resolutions
Set to Allow Greater Transit Spending
Budget
resolutions recently passed in the House and Senate to establish
overall spending for the Federal government’s fiscal year 2004 have
cleared the way for a level of transit spending greater than the
$7.2 billion proposed by the President. On both the House and Senate
sides, Members of Congress have repeatedly expressed disagreement
with the President’s request to keep transit spending level with
last year. The House budget resolution provides $8.2 billion in
budget authority for transit, while the Senate budget resolution
provides $9.5 billion. The Senate version includes an amendment
introduced by Senator Christopher “Kit” Bond (R-MO) to provide $255
million for highways and $56.5 billion for transit over the next six
years. Both resolutions include language that would allow funding
levels to increase provided lawmakers are able to secure additional
revenue.
Hearings on
Capitol Hill Reveal More About the Hydrogen Future
The House and Senate held hearings on
consecutive days the first week of March to explore the status of
hydrogen research and development initiatives, the role of the
federal government, the deployment timeframe, and the hydrogen
distribution challenge. On the House side, a panel of industry,
government and academic experts testified at a hearing of the
Science Committee March 5. Panelists identified the need for greater
investment in research and development to satisfy the timeframe for
mass market fuel cell production. The Department of Energy has set
the year 2020 as the goal for mass market penetration of fuel cell
vehicle technologies. At a hearing of the Senate Energy and Natural
Resources Committee on March 6, a similar panel of experts addressed
these issues, including the issue of renewable hydrogen generation.
David Friedman of the Union of Concerned Scientists and David
Garman, DOE Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable
Energy agreed that natural gas would be the primary source of
hydrogen for the foreseeable future. Mr. Garman estimated that
natural gas would continue to provide the majority of hydrogen until
2025. Hydrogen is not found naturally in its pure form and must be
generated from a primary fuel like natural gas or water. The
generation of hydrogen using renewable energy to drive the process
of electrolysis would make it an important non-polluting energy
source.
Tour de Sol
Briefing Under Development
The
Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) in cooperation with
the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA) are working to
develop a briefing to coincide with this year’s annual Tour De Sol,
the Great American Green Transportation Festival, to arrive May 15
on the National Mall. This annual event brings light duty cars,
trucks and buses to Washington, DC each year to showcase some of the
advanced vehicle technologies both in use and under development that
produce fewer emissions and consume less petroleum than vehicles
more commonly found on the road today. The briefing will consider
innovations in vehicle technologies used in bus transit systems to
reduce dependence on petroleum fuel and improve air quality and
public health. It will also consider opportunities in upcoming
legislation to support deployment of these technologies on a broader
scale.
For questions or
comments about this newsletter or any of the topics it covers,
please send an email to
rminjares@eesi.org addressed to Ray Minjares at the
Environmental and Energy Study Institute.
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