Federal Register, Volume 61 Issue 243 (Tuesday, December 17, 1996)
[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 243 (Tuesday, December 17, 1996)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 66529-66531]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-32195]
[[Page 66527]]
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Part V
The President
_______________________________________________________________________
Executive Order 13031--Federal Alternative Fueled Vehicle Leadership
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 61, No. 243 / Tuesday, December 17, 1996 /
Presidential Documents
___________________________________________________________________
Title 3--
The President
[[Page 66529]]
Executive Order 13031 of December 13, 1996
Federal Alternative Fueled Vehicle Leadership
By the authority vested in me as President by the
Constitution and the laws of the United States of
America, including the Energy Policy and Conservation
Act, as amended (42 U.S.C. 6201 et seq.), the Energy
Policy Act of 1992 (Public Law 102-486) (``the Act''),
and section 301 of title 3, United States Code, and
with the knowledge that the use of alternative fueled
motor vehicles will, in many applications, reduce the
Nation's dependence on oil, and may create jobs by
providing an economic stimulus for domestic industry,
and may improve the Nation's air quality by reducing
pollutants in the atmosphere, it is hereby ordered as
follows:
Section 1. Federal Leadership and Goals. (a) The
purpose of this order is to ensure that the Federal
Government exercise leadership in the use of
alternative fueled vehicles (AFVs). To that end, each
Federal agency shall develop and implement aggressive
plans to fulfill the alternative fueled vehicle
acquisition requirements established by the Act. The
Act generally requires that, of the vehicles acquired
by each agency for its fleets, subject to certain
conditions specified in section 303(b)(1) of the Act,
25 percent should be AFVs in fiscal year (FY) 1996, 33
percent in FY 1997, 50 percent in FY 1998, and 75
percent in FY 1999 and thereafter. These requirements
apply to all agencies, regardless of whether they lease
vehicles from the General Services Administration (GSA)
or acquire them elsewhere. That section also defines
which Federal agency vehicles are covered by the AFV
acquisition requirements; this order applies to the
same vehicles, which are primarily general-use vehicles
located in metropolitan statistical areas with
populations of 250,000 or more.
(b) To the extent practicable, agencies shall use
alternative fuels in all vehicles capable of using
them. Agencies shall continue to work together in
interagency committees recommended by the Federal Fleet
Conversion Task Force established by Executive Order
12844 of April 21, 1993, to coordinate their vehicle
acquisitions and placement.
Sec. 2. Submission of Agency Plans and Reports on
Statutory Compliance. (a) Sixty (60) days after the
date of this Executive order, and annually thereafter
as part of its budget submission to the Director of the
Office of Management and Budget, each agency shall
submit a report on its compliance with sections 303 and
304 of the Act. A copy of the report shall also be
submitted to the Secretary of Energy and to the
Administrator of General Services. The report shall
state whether the agency is in compliance with the Act,
and substantiate that statement with quantitative data
including numbers and types of vehicles acquired and
the level of their use. At a minimum, the report shall
indicate the number of vehicles acquired or converted
for each fuel type and vehicle class, and the total
number of vehicles of each fuel type operated by the
agency. The Director of the Office of Management and
Budget shall issue further reporting guidance as
necessary.
(b) If an agency has failed to meet the statutory
requirements, it shall include in its report an
explanation for such failure and a plan, consistent
with the agency's current and requested budgets, for
achieving compliance with the Act. The plan shall
include alternative sources of suitable AFVs if the
agency's primary vehicle supplier is unable to meet the
AFV requirements.
[[Page 66530]]
(c) The Secretary of the Department of Energy and
the Administrator of General Services shall
cooperatively analyze the agency AFV reports and
acquisition plans, and shall submit jointly a summary
report to the Director of the Office of Management and
Budget.
Sec. 3. Exceptions for Law-Enforcement, Emergency, and
National Defense Vehicles. Section 303 of the Act
allows exemptions to the acquisition requirements for
law-enforcement, emergency, and vehicles acquired and
used for military purposes that the Secretary of
Defense has certified must be exempt for national
security reasons. Law enforcement vehicles shall
include vehicles used for protective activities. Each
agency that acquires or utilizes any such vehicles
shall include in its report an explanation of why an
exemption is claimed with respect to such vehicles.
Sec. 4. Fulfilling the Acquisition Requirement. (a)
Agencies may acquire alternative fueled vehicles to
meet the requirements of this order through lease from
GSA, acquisition of original equipment manufacturer
models, commercial lease, conversion of conventionally
fueled vehicles, or any combination of these
approaches. All vehicles, including those converted for
alternative fuel use, shall comply with all applicable
Federal and State emissions and safety standards.
(b) Based on its own plans and the plans and
reports submitted by other agencies, the Administrator
of General Services shall provide planning information
to potential AFV suppliers to assist in production
planning. After consulting with AFV suppliers, the
Administrator of General Services shall provide to
Federal agencies information on the production plans of
AFV suppliers well in advance of budget and ordering
cycles.
(c) As required by section 305 of the Act, the
Secretary of Energy, in cooperation with the
Administrator of General Services, shall continue to
provide technical assistance to other Federal agencies
that acquire alternative fueled vehicles and shall
facilitate the coordination of the Federal Government's
alternative fueled vehicle program.
Sec. 5. Vehicle Reporting Credits. The gains in air
quality and energy security that this order seeks to
achieve will be even larger if medium- and heavy-duty
vehicles are operated on alternative fuels, and if
``zero-emissions vehicles'' (ZEVs) are used. Therefore,
for the purposes of this order, agencies may acquire
medium- or heavy-duty dedicated alternative fueled
vehicles or ZEVs to meet their AFV acquisition
requirements, and they shall be given credits for
compliance with their AFV targets as follows. Each
medium-duty and ZEV shall count the same as two light-
duty AFVs, and each dedicated alternative fueled heavy-
duty vehicle shall count as three light-duty AFVs. The
ZEV credits may be combined with vehicle size credits.
The Director of the Office of Management and Budget, in
consultation with the Secretary of Energy, shall issue
detailed guidance on the classification and reporting
of medium-duty, heavy-duty, and ZEVs. In the reports
mandated in section 2 of this order, medium- and heavy-
duty AFVs and ZEVs shall be identified separately from
light-duty vehicles.
Sec. 6. Funding Alternative Fueled Vehicle Acquisition.
(a) The Department of Energy will no longer request or
require specific appropriations to fund the incremental
costs of alternative fueled vehicles, including any
incremental costs associated with acquisition and
disposal, for other agencies. Agencies shall formulate
their compliance plans based on existing and requested
funds, but shall not be exempt from the requirements of
the Act or this order due to limited appropriations.
(b) An exception regarding funding assistance shall
be made for electric vehicles, which are in an earlier
stage of development than other alternative fueled
vehicles. The Secretary of Energy shall establish a
program beginning in FY 1997 to provide partial funding
assistance for agency purchases of electric vehicles.
Up to $10,000 or one-half the incremental cost over a
comparable gasoline-powered vehicle, whichever is less,
may be provided as funding assistance for each electric
vehicle, subject to the availability of funds.
[[Page 66531]]
Sec. 7. Agency Cooperation with Stakeholders on
Alternative Fueled Vehicle Placement and Refueling
Capabilities. The Secretary of Energy shall work with
agencies procuring AFVs to coordinate the placement of
their vehicles with the placement of similar vehicles
by nonfederal alternative fuel stakeholders. Federal
planning and acquisition efforts shall be coordinated
with the efforts of the Department of Energy's ``Clean
Cities'' participants, private industry fuel suppliers,
and fleet operators, and State and local governments to
ensure that adequate private sector refueling
capabilities exist or will exist wherever Federal fleet
alternative fueled vehicles are located. Each agency's
fleet managers shall work with appropriate
organizations at their respective locations, whether in
a ``Clean Cities'' location or not, on initiatives to
promote alternative fueled vehicle use and expansion of
refueling infrastructure.
Sec. 8. Definitions. For the purpose of this order, the
terms ``agency,'' ``alternative fueled vehicle,'' and
``alternative fuel'' have the same meaning given such
terms in sections 151 and 301 of the Act.
Sec. 9. Executive Order 12844. This order supersedes
Executive Order 12844.
Sec. 10. Judicial Review. This order is not intended
to, and does not, create any right or benefit or trust
responsibility, substantive or procedural, enforceable
by a party against the United States, its agencies or
instrumentalities, its officers or employees, or any
other person.
(Presidential Sig.)
THE WHITE HOUSE,
December 13, 1996.
[FR Doc. 96-32195
Filed 12-16-96; 11:26 am]
Billing code 3195-01-P
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