Category Archives: News

TCEQ Opens $6.4M in VW Funds for Freight and Drayage Trucks in the Houston Region

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is inviting applications from person who operate trucks, including commercial trucks, used to deliver cargo and freight in areas designed as Priority Areas. Incentive funding is available to replace or repower eligible vehicles to reduce the emission of nitrogen oxides in designated eligible counties.
Eligible Applicants:
Eligible applicants under the TxVEMP must operate a freight or port drayage truck at least 51% of the vehicle’s annual mileage in one of the Priority Areas.
Vehicles being replaced or repowered must:
  • be a Class 4-7 local freight truck or commercial truck used to deliver cargo and freight with a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) between 14,001 – 33,000 lbs. or;
  • be a Class 8 local freight truck used for port drayage and/or freight/cargo delivery with a GVWR greater than 33,000 lbs;
  • have a diesel engine with a model year of 1992 – 2009;
  • be considered capable of performing its primary function for the next five years;
  • have been continuously inspected and registered in Texas for the two years immediately preceding the application signature date;
  • have been used routinely by the applicant in its primary function in Texas for the two years immediately preceding the application signature date; and
  • been owned by the applicant for the two years immediately preceding the application signature date.
New vehicles must:
  • be powered by electricity, diesel, or an alternative fuel;
  • have an engine model year not more than one year older than the year the application is submitted;
  • be certified by the EPA or CARB to a NOx emissions standard or family emissions limit (FEL) of 0.2 g/bhp-hr or lower;
  • be used in the same priority priority area as the vehicle being replaced or repowered; and
  • be of the same type, weight category, and body and axle configuration as the vehicle being replaced.
Activity Life and Usage Commitment:
  • The applicant must commit to use the grant-funded vehicle at least 51% of the vehicle’s annual miles of operation in one of the Priority Areas for the duration of the five-year activity life.

We Need Your Help: The 2019 Annual Vehicle Survey

Greetings Valued Partner,
H-GAC needs your help to better understand the needs in the region by completing our 2019 Annual Vehicle Survey. This year’s survey will help us all better understand the population of both traditional and alternative fueled vehicles and equipment used in fleets throughout our region.
Survey participation helps document the current and future needs of the region and support H-GAC and the Houston-Galveston Clean Cities Coalition’s efforts to improve air quality and expand the use of cleaner advanced vehicle technology. The more data we have available, helps H-GAC apply for federal/state funding which results in more financial incentives that specifically benefit our region’s fleets.
*The survey deadline is February 15, 2020 at 5:00 pm.
Please help us by completing or forwarding this survey to your network of fleets. If necessary, we are also able to distribute this survey in physical form or take your information over the phone. If there are any additional accommodations we can provide, please let us know. If you have any questions, please see the contact information below.
To create/update Clean Cities Coalition Profile ====> Membership
To view upcoming meetings and review past meeting ====> Stakeholder Meetings
Contact:
Andrew DeCandis | 832-681-2589 | andrew.decandis@h-gac.com

Alternative Fuel Tax Credit Webinar

If you work with fleets that move people or freight using reliable and affordable natural gas as a transportation fuel or support entities that do, then you know how important the $0.50/gallon Alternative Fuel Tax Credit (AFTC) is to their operations.
After months of lobbying, educating, and coalition building on Capitol Hill, NGVAmerica secured this important three-year excise tax credit extension for calendar years 2018, 2019, and 2020 in the final legislative hours before Congress left Washington for the holidays last month.
Please share the attached webinar flyer inviting fleets to understand how to take full advantage of the AFTC and claim past years’ credits by joining NGVA for a no-cost webinar open to all corporate, fleet, and individual participants onWednesday, January 15, 2020 at 2:00 p.m. ET.
Current NGVAmerica membership is not required, though pre-registration is at:Eventbrite.

DOE Awards Katy Location over $1.4 million for Natural Gas infrastructure enhancement

DNV GL USA, Inc (Katy, TX) was one of 16 grant recipients who received a total of $25 million. DNV GL aims to develop a new, corrosive-resistant, multi-layered coating (metallic and polymeric) used to repair and protect natural gas pipeline repair welds, to reduce natural gas emissions caused by corrosion. The project entitled Reduction of Methane Leaks through Corrosion Mitigation Pre-Treatments for Pipelines with Field-Applied Coatings, will verify the performance of a new metallic-polymeric coating system using an instrumented disbonded coating coupon buried in the field next to an operating pipeline. This project brings together an experienced team consisting of a pipeline company (Enbridge), a welding company (Lincoln Electric), and a corrosion expert (DNV GL USA, Inc).
DOE Funding: $1,488,391; Non-DOE Funding: $394,751; Total Value: $1,883,142

Control of Air Pollution from New Motor Vehicles: Heavy-Duty Engine Standards

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is soliciting pre-proposal comments on a rule-making effort known as theCleaner Trucks Initiative (CTI). This advance notice describes EPA’s plans for a new rule making that would establish new emission standards for oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and other pollutants for highway heavy-duty engines. It also describes opportunities to streamline and improve certification procedures to reduce costs for engine manufacturers. The EPA is seeking input on this effort from the public, including all interested
stakeholders, to inform the development of a subsequent notice of proposed rule-making.
DATES: Comments: Comments must be received on or before [INSERT DATE 30 DAYS AFTER PUBLICATION IN THE FEDERAL REGISTER].
ADDRESSES: Comments: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQOAR- 2019-0055, at www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions for submitting comments. Once submitted, comments cannot be edited or removed from Regulations.gov. The submissions, and general guidance on making effective comments, please visit https://www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets.
All documents in the docket are listed on the www.regulations.gov website. Although listed in the index, some information is not publicly available, e.g., CBI or other information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Certain other material, such as copyrighted material, is not placed on the Internet and will be publicly available only in hard copy form. Publicly available docket materials are available either electronically in www.regulations.gov or in hard
copy at Air and Radiation Docket and Information Center, EPA Docket Center, EPA/DC, EPA WJC West Building, 1301 Constitution Ave., N.W., Room 3334, Washington, DC. The Public Reading Room is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays. The telephone number for the Public Reading Room is (202) 566–1744, and the telephone number for the Air Docket is (202) 566-1742.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Brian Nelson, Office of Transportation and Air Quality, Assessment and Standards Division, Environmental Protection Agency, 2000 Traverwood Drive, Ann Arbor, MI 48105; telephone number: (734) 214-4278; email address:nelson.brian@epa.gov.

TCEQ Announces New Round of Grants for The Texas Clean School Bus Program

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) is currently accepting applications for the Texas Emissions Reduction Plan (TERP) TCSB. Approximately $6.2 million in grants is available state-wide for school districts, charter schools, and transportation systems provided by countywide school districts, to replace or retrofit school buses operating on a regular daily route to and from school.
Grants are available on a first-come, first-served basis to reimburse up to 80% of the cost to replace a school bus with a newer, cleaner model, and up to 100% of the cost to retrofit a school bus.
Applications will be accepted until 5:00 p.m. on December 17, 2020 or until all funding is awarded.
For more information on the grant program and to access up-to-date information on the application criteria and process, or to receive copies of the application forms, visit www.terpgrants.org or call 800-919-TERP (8377).

Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA) Grants are Available

EPA anticipates awarding approximately  $44 million in competitive grant funding under the Diesel Emissions Reductions Act (DERA) National Grants Program. The program is soliciting applications nationwide for projects that achieve significant reductions in diesel emissions and exposure, particularly from fleets operating in areas designated by the Administrator as poor air quality areas.
Application packages must be submitted electronically to EPA through Grants.gov ( www.grants.gov ) no later than Wednesday, February 26, 2020, at 11:59 p.m. (ET) to be considered for funding.

Wednesday, December 11, 2019; 1:00 p.m. (ET)Join Webinar Wednesday, December 18, 2019; 3:00 p.m. (ET)Join Webinar Tuesday, January 14, 2020; 3:00 p.m. (ET)Join Webinar 1+ (202) 991-0477, 4149804# (audio dial-in number)
Supporting Information for RFA

Questions and AnswersAll applicants are encouraged to review the Questions and Answers (PDF)(13 pp, 270 K, December 9, 2019) for further clarification of this Request for Applications. The deadline for submitting questions is February 14, 2020 at 4 p.m. ET. The final Questions and Answers document will be posted on February 19, 2020 at 4:00 p.m. All questions and answers, including those from all webinar information sessions, will be added to this document.
Eligible ApplicantsThe following U.S. entities are eligible to apply for DERA National Grants:

  • Regional, state, local or tribal agencies/consortia or port authorities with jurisdiction over transportation or air quality
  • Nonprofit organizations or institutions that represent or provide pollution reduction or educational services to persons or organizations that own or operate diesel fleets or have the promotion of transportation or air quality as their principal purpose.

School districts, municipalities, metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs), cities and counties are all eligible entities to the extent that they fall within the definition above.
Please refer to the  full RFA for specific information about this competition.
Eligible Uses of FundingEligible diesel vehicles, engines and equipment include:

  • School buses
  • Class 5 – Class 8 heavy-duty highway vehicles
  • Locomotive engines
  • Marine engines
  • Nonroad engines, equipment or vehicles used in construction, handling of cargo (including at ports or airports), agriculture, mining or energy production (including stationary generators and pumps).

Grant funds may be used for diesel emission reduction projects including:

Funds awarded under this program cannot be used to fund emission reductions mandated by federal law. Equipment for testing emissions or fueling infrastructure is not eligible for funding.
Please refer to the  full RFA for specific information about this competition.
Grant ProcessThe RFA includes information on how to prepare and submit a proposal package. The proposal package must be received by the deadline and include the following documents:

  • Project Narrative (no more than 11 pages)
  • Standard Form SF 424 – Application for Federal Assistance
  • Standard Form SF 424A – Budget Information
  • Standard Form 424B – Non-Construction Programs
  • EPA Form 4700-4 – Pre-Award Compliance Review
  • EPA Key Contacts Form – Key Contacts Form
  • Applicant Fleet Description information (not included in the page limit)
  • Emissions Reduction Calculations (not included in the page limit)
  • Cost-Share Commitment Letters, if applicable (not included in the page limit)
  • Partnership Letters, if applicable (not included in the page limit)
  • Mandated Measures Justification Supporting Information, if applicable (not included in the page limit)

After the closing date, all eligible applications will be reviewed and ranked. Selected projects may be fully or partially funded. 
Tools and Resources for Applicants

Spotlighting Innovation: Nuro + Walmart Pilot Program

Walmart announced a new pilot program that will test autonomous grocery delivery in the Houston market starting next year. The retailer is partnering with autonomous vehicle company  Nuro,  a robotics company that uses driverless technology to deliver goods to customers. Nuro’s vehicles in this case will delivery Walmart online grocery orders to a select group of customers who opt into the service in Houston.

The autonomous delivery service will involve R2, Nuro’s custom-built delivery vehicle that carries products only with no on-board drivers or passengers, as well as autonomous Toyota Priuses that deliver groceries. The program’s goal is to learn more about how autonomous grocery delivery could work and how such a service can be improved to better serve Walmart’s shoppers.

Nuro’s focus to date has been developing a self-driving stack and combining it with a custom unmanned vehicle designed for last-mile delivery of local goods and services. The vehicle has two compartments that can fit up to six grocery bags each.

The company has raised more than $1 billion from partners, including SoftBank, Greylock Partners and Gaorong Capital. In March, the company announced  it had raised $940 million in financing from Softbank Vision Fund.

Nuro is known for its pursuit of autonomous delivery. But it also licensed its self-driving vehicle technology to Ike, the autonomous trucking startup. Nuro’s partnership with Walmart is hardly its first. The company partnered with Kroger (Fry’s) in 2018 to test autonomous Prius vehicles and its custom-built robot, R1. The R1 autonomous vehicle was operating as a driverless service without a safety driver on board in the Phoenix suburb of Scottsdale. In March 2019, Nuro moved the service with Kroger to Houston, beginning with autonomous Priuses. In 2020, Nuro will test its second-generation robot, R2, with Kroger, Domino’s as well as Walmart.

The Nuro partnership isn’t Walmart’s first autonomous delivery pilot, either.The retailer earlier this year  tapped the startup Udelv to test autonomous grocery deliveries in Arizona . This summer, it  kicked off a test with Gatik A.I. , an autonomous vehicle startup to test grocery delivery from Walmart’s main warehouse in Bentonville, Arkansas. Walmart also  launched a pilot with self-driving company Waymo  in 2018 to test rides to Walmart for grocery pickup, as well as  a test with Ford and Postmates for autonomous grocery delivery .

“Our unparalleled size and scale has allowed us to steer grocery delivery to the front doors of millions of families – and design a road map for the future of the industry,” said Tom Ward, Walmart’s SVP of digital operations, in a statement. “Along the way, we’ve been test driving a number of different options for getting groceries from our stores to our customers’ front doors through self-driving technology. We believe this technology is a natural extension of our Grocery Pickup and Delivery service, and our goal of making every day a little easier for customers,” he added.

The retailer’s investments in its online grocery business helped boost sales and benefited consumers by offering an affordable competitor to Amazon, Target’s Shipt, Instacart, and others. In Q3, Walmart’s grocery business helped online sales grow 41%, ahead of the 35% gain expected.

Walmart says its pilot program will Nuro will kick off in 2020.