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Regulatory

Announcement

 Printed on Recycled Paper

United States

Environmental Protection

Agency

Air and Radiation EPA420-F-98-003

April 1998

Office of Mobile Sources

Clean Fuel Fleet Program:

Delay of Implementation Date

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is issuing a Direct

Final Rule/Notice of Proposed Rulemaking which will delay for one-year

the September 1, 1997, implementation of the Clean Fuel Fleet

Program (CFFP) in covered areas. This rulemaking also proposes that

covered states with adopted CFFPs revise their State Implementation

Plans (SIPs) to provide for the model year (MY) 1999 start date for the

CFFP purchase requirements.

Background

The 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments require certain states to adopt a

CFFP for nonattainment areas with 1980 populations greater than

250,000 that are classified as Serious or worse for ozone, or with a

design value of at least 16.0 ppm for carbon monoxide (CO). The

nonattainment areas which have not opted out and remain covered by the

requirement to adopt a CFFP are Atlanta, Washington, DC metropolitan

area, Chicago-Gary-Lake Counties, Milwaukee-Racine, Baton Rouge,

and Denver-Boulder. Covered states are required to revise and submit to

EPA their SIPs to include the CFFP.

Section 246 of the Clean Air Act provides that states’ SIP submissions

must require fleet operators with ten or more centrally-fueled vehicles to

include a specified percentage of clean-fuel vehicles (CFVs) in their new

vehicle purchases each year (see table below).
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Percentage of CFVs in

New Vehicle Purchases Each Year

This requirement is contingent upon certain categories of new vehicles

(light duty trucks below 6000 lbs gross vehicle weight rating and light

duty vehicles) certified to the Phase II CFV exhaust emissions standards

being offered for sale in California. In addition, states CFFP SIP submissions must comply with other specifications in Section 246, including

the requirement that covered fleet operators must operate their CFVs in

covered nonattainment areas on a clean alternative fuel, which is defined

as a fuel on which the vehicle meets EPA’s CFV standards.

In order to meet the MY98 purchase requirements, fleet operators must

have placed vehicle orders by the spring of 1997; the supply of federally

certified CFVs was limited, however. Based on the limited numbers of

light duty vehicles and trucks offered for sale in California in MY97,

EPA believes that a short delay of the required implementation date of

the CFFP for one model year is reasonable. This delay of the effective

date will help avoid the potential for serious disruption of the initial

implementation of this program due to an inadequate supply of vehicles.

This rulemaking will ensure that an adequate supply of appropriate

vehicles is available for fleet operators to purchase and use once the

program is underway, so that compliance with the mandatory purchase

requirements will be possible and economically feasible for covered fleet

operators.

M e raeYledo Percentag

1 0 998 3

1 0 999 5

2 0 000+ 7
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Overview of Rulemaking

EPA is delaying the start date for implementation of the CFFP purchase

requirements from September 1, 1997 (MY98) to September 1, 1998

(MY99), and intends to approve state SIP submissions with CFFPs that

start in MY99. EPA has received information from various stakeholders,

including states, covered fleet operators, and vehicle manufacturers on

this issue and has concluded that MY99 implementation will result in a

successful, effective fleet program that advances the penetration of CFVs

and clean alternative fuels into the national market. Without ample

vehicle availability, fleet operators cannot realistically be expected to

comply with the CFFP new purchase requirements. EPA cannot mandate

that vehicle manufacturers produce CFVs for fleets to purchase to meet

the CFFP requirements; Congress intended that the creation of a market

for CFVs provide incentive for vehicle manufacturers to produce and sell

such vehicles outside California, ultimately resulting in broader market

penetration.

The one year delay relieves the states of the legal requirement to implement the program for MY98. This rulemaking requires that states with

adopted CFFPs revise their SIPs to provide for the MY99 start date for

the CFFP purchase requirements. This delay does not affect any potential

obligation for CFFPs which may subsequently arise due to the pending

reclassifications or bump-ups which occur after September 1, 1998.

For More Information

For further information on the Clean Fuel Fleet Program, please contact

Sally Newstead at:

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Office of Mobile Sources

2565 Plymouth Road

Ann Arbor, Michigan 48105

(734) 668-4474

Newstead.Sally@epamail.epa.gov

Additional documents on this rulemaking are available electronically

from the EPA Internet server at:

http://www.epa.gov/OMSWWW/cff.htm