The GSA started by ordering 3,100 hybrids on April 1 for $77 million, then ordered an additional 14,105 alternative-fuel and hybrid vehicles on June 1 for $210 million. In its final wave of purchasing, the GSA bought five compressed natural gas buses, 35 hybrid electric buses, and one hybrid car for $12.4 million, bringing the total to $300 million. Of the 17,246 vehicles, ordered from six manufacturers, most will be delivered by the end of October. Only the newly ordered buses will take longer, arriving in the third quarter of 2010.
GSA will use the new vehicles to replace older, less-efficient models in the federal fleet. The vehicles will save an estimated 16.7 million gallons of fuel over the next seven years, preventing the emissions of 334 million pounds of GHG and saving taxpayers at least $40 million in fuel costs. As the older vehicles being replaced are sold, the money from the sales will be used to make additional investments toward greening the federal fleet. See the GSA press release.
EPA Aims to Limit GHG Regulations to Large Facilities
The U.S. EPA proposed a rule that would limit future GHG regulations under the Clean Air Act to large industrial facilities emitting the equivalent of 25,000 tons or more of CO2 annually. The rule will require a permit when major emitters of GHGs make modifications that increase their emissions. That permit requirement will be triggered with emission increases equivalent to somewhere between 10,000 and 25,000 tons of carbon dioxide. The EPA isn't sure where exactly to set this "significance level" for modifications, and it is seeking comments on the best value to use. The proposed rule will limit GHG regulations to facilities such as power plants, refineries, and factories, which produce nearly 70% of U.S. GHGs.
The EPA proposes regulations on GHGs from cars and light trucks under the Clean Air Act, as part of joint rule on fuel economy with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The EPA intends to finalize that regulation in the spring of 2010, and once that happens, GHGs will be treated as pollutants under the Clean Air Act.
That would automatically trigger regulations for relatively small GHG emitters, a situation that the EPA is working to avoid. Under the proposed rule, small and medium-sized businesses such as farms and restaurants, as well as many other facilities, would not be subject to GHG regulations. As noted in the proposed EPA rule, allowing GHG regulations to apply to relatively small emitters would cause state permitting authorities to be "paralyzed by permit application in numbers that are orders of magnitude greater than their current administrative resources could accommodate."
The proposed "tailoring" rule addresses six GHG: carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride. With the proposed industrial emissions thresholds, EPA estimates that 14,000 large sources would need to obtain operating permits. Most of these sources are already subject to clean air permitting requirements because they emit other pollutants.
In addition, 400 new sources or modified sources would be subject to review each year for GHG emissions. Under the Clean Air Act, the EPA will ensure these new or modified sources use the best available control technologies and energy efficiency systems to minimize GHG emissions. The EPA plans to develop sector- and source-specific guidance that will help permitting authorities and industrial facilities better understand GHG emissions for each type of facility, methods for estimating those emissions, available GHG measurement and monitoring techniques, and strategies to minimize GHG emissions. The EPA plans to revisit its thresholds after five years to see if they can be lowered.
