(a) Eligible projects include:
(1) purchase or lease of on-road and non-road diesels;
(2) emissions-reducing retrofit projects for on-road
or non-road diesels;
(3) emissions-reducing repower projects for on-road
or non-road diesels;
(4) purchase and use of emissions-reducing add-on equipment
for on-road or non-road diesels;
(5) development and demonstration of practical, low-emissions
retrofit technologies, repower options, and advanced technologies
for on-road or non-road diesels with lower nitrogen oxides (NOX ) emissions;
(6) use of qualifying fuel;
(7) implementation of infrastructure projects;
(8) replacement of on-road and non-road diesels with
newer on-road and non-road diesels; and
(9) other projects that have the potential to reduce
anticipated NOX emissions from diesel
engines.
(b) For a proposed project as listed in subsection
(a) of this section, other than a project involving a marine vessel
or engine, a project involving non-road equipment used for natural
gas recovery purposes, a project involving replacement of a motor
vehicle, or a project involving the purchase or lease of a motor vehicle,
not less than 55% of vehicle miles traveled or hours of operation
projected for the five years immediately following the award of a
grant must be projected to take place in a nonattainment area or affected
county of this state. The commission may also allow vehicle travel
on highways and roadways, or portions of a highway or roadway, designated
by the commission and located outside a nonattainment area or affected
county to count towards the percentage of use requirement.
(c) For a proposed project involving a marine vessel
or engine, the vessel or engine must be operated in the intercoastal
waterways or bays adjacent to a nonattainment area or affected county
of this state for not less than 55% of time over the lifetime of the
project.
(d) For a proposed motor vehicle replacement, purchase,
or lease project, the period used to determine the emissions reductions
and cost-effectiveness of each replacement, purchase, or lease activity
included in the project must extend for five years or more, or 400,000
miles, whichever occurs earlier. Not less than 55% of the vehicle
miles traveled projected for the period used to determine the emissions
reductions must be projected to take place in a nonattainment area
or affected county of this state. The commission may also allow vehicle
travel on highways and roadways, or portions of a highway or roadway,
designated by the commission and located outside of a nonattainment
county or affected county to count towards the percentage of use requirement.
(e) For a proposed project that includes a replacement
of equipment or a repower, the old equipment or engine must be recycled
or scrapped provided, however, that the executive director may allow
permanent removal from the state of Texas in specific grants where
the applicant has provided sufficient assurances that the old locomotive
will not be returned to the state of Texas.
(f) For a proposed project to replace a motor vehicle,
the vehicle and engine must be decommissioned by crushing the vehicle
and engine, by making a hole in the engine block and permanently destroying
the frame of the vehicle, or by another method approved by the executive
director that permanently removes the vehicle and engine from operation
in this state. For a proposed project to repower a motor vehicle,
the engine being replaced must be decommissioned in a manner consistent
with the requirements for decommissioning an engine as part of a vehicle
replacement project. The executive director shall allow an applicant
for a motor vehicle replacement or repower project to propose an alternative
method for complying with the requirements of this subsection.
(g) For a project to replace a motor vehicle, the vehicle
being replaced may have been owned, leased, or otherwise commercially
financed by the applicant. The applicant must have a legal right to
replace and recycle or scrap the vehicle and engine before a grant
is awarded for that project.
(h) The commission may set cost-effectiveness limits
as needed to ensure the best use of available funds. The commission
may also base project selection decisions on additional measures to
evaluate the effectiveness of projects in reducing NOX emissions in relation to the funds to be
awarded.
(i) The executive director may waive eligibility requirements
established under subsections (b) - (f) of this section on a finding
of good cause, which may include a waiver of any ownership and use
requirements established for replacement of a motor vehicle for short
lapses in registration or operation attributable to economic conditions,
seasonal work, or other circumstances. In determining good cause and
deciding whether to grant a waiver, the executive director shall ensure
that the emissions reductions that will be attributed to the project
will still be valid and, where applicable, meet the conditions for
assignment for credit to the state implementation plan.
(j) Projects funded with a grant from this program
may not be used for credit under any state or federal emissions reduction
credit averaging, banking, or trading program except as provided under
Texas Health and Safety Code, §386.056.
(k) A proposed project as listed in subsection (a)
of this section is not eligible if it is required by any state or
federal law, rule or regulation, memorandum of agreement, or other
legally binding document. This subsection does not apply to:
(1) an otherwise qualified project, regardless of the
fact that the state implementation plan assumes that the change in
equipment, vehicles, or operations will occur, if on the date the
grant is awarded the change is not required by any state or federal
law, rule or regulation, memorandum of agreement, or other legally
binding document; or
(2) the purchase of an on-road diesel or equipment
required only by local law or regulation or by corporate or controlling
board policy of a public or private entity.
(l) A proposed retrofit, repower, replacement, or add-on
equipment project must achieve a reduction in NOX emissions
to the level established in the commission's Texas
Emissions Reduction Plan: Guidelines for Emissions Reduction Incentive
Grants Program (RG-388) for that type of project compared with
the baseline emissions adopted by the commission for the relevant
engine year and application.
(m) If a grant recipient fails to meet the terms of
a project grant or the conditions of this division, the executive
director can require that the grant recipient return some or all of
the grant funding to the extent that emission reductions are not achieved
or cannot be demonstrated.
(n) Criteria established in the guidelines, including
revisions to the commission's Texas Emissions
Reduction Plan: Guidelines for Emissions Reduction Incentive Grants
Program (RG-388), apply to the Texas Emissions Reduction Plan
program. Regardless of the provisions of this chapter, as authorized
under Texas Health and Safety Code, §386.053(d), revisions to
the guidelines may include, among other changes, adding additional
pollutants; adding stationary engines or engines used in stationary
applications; adding vehicles and equipment that use fuels other than
diesel; or adjusting eligible program categories, as appropriate,
to ensure that incentives established under this program achieve the
maximum possible emission reductions.
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Source Note: The provisions of this §114.622 adopted to be effective September 13, 2001, 26 TexReg 6945; amended to be effective February 17, 2004, 29 TexReg 1363; amended to be effective October 12, 2006, 31 TexReg 8375; amended to be effective January 6, 2008, 32 TexReg 10005; amended to be effective March 18, 2010, 35 TexReg 2194; amended to be effective April 19, 2012, 37 TexReg 2642; amended to be effective May 1, 2014, 39 TexReg 3432; amended to be effective April 26, 2018, 43 TexReg 2442; amended to be effective July 2, 2020,45TexReg 4353; amended to be effective June 23, 2022, 47 TexReg 3560 |