[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 243 (Tuesday, December 17, 1996)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 66529-66531]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-32195]



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Part V





The President





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Executive Order 13031--Federal Alternative Fueled Vehicle Leadership
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  Federal Register / Vol. 61, No. 243 / Tuesday, December 17, 1996 / 
Presidential Documents  

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 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