NGVAmerica Applauds Introduction of Natural Gas in Transportation Parity Bill

Washington, D.C. – NGVAmerica today applauded legislation introduced by U.S. Representatives Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) and John Larson (D-CT) intended to expand the use of clean alternative transportation fuels and bring parity to natural gas alternative fueled vehicles.  The Natural Gas Parity Act of 2018, H.R. 5959, would ensure fair treatment in the tax code, federal acquisition policy, and research and development funding for vehicles and other transportation uses fueled by natural gas and related alternative sources.

“Current federal incentives and regulatory rules do not encourage the use of super clean and efficient natural gas for transportation,” said NGVAmerica President Dan Gage.  “With the introduction of this legislation, Representatives Mullin and Larson recognize that the world’s cleanest heavy-duty engines run on natural gas.  And as the movement of goods and freight continues to dominate our economy, if we want cleaner air, we need cleaner trucks, cleaner locomotives, and cleaner ships.  Natural gas technology is proven, domestic, and commercially ready-right-now for every major freight and passenger transit application.”

Existing programs do not provide sufficient incentive for manufacturers to produce natural gas vehicles nor do they fully account for all the environmental benefits of natural gas in transportation; today, federal incentives mostly favor electric drivetrains.

The Mullin/Larson Bill would:

• Extend the expired Alternative Fuels Tax Credit (AFTC) of $.50 per gallon equivalent through 2022, providing greater certainty for businesses, municipalities, and fleet managers interested in investing in alternative fuel transportation options;
• Encourage investment in new natural gas technologies by providing a partial exclusion from the federal excise tax imposed on heavy-duty natural gas truck purchases, effectively exempting the technology’s incremental cost from the existing 12 percent rate;
• Bring parity to the purchase of natural gas motor vehicles on par with the Federal government’s $7,500 tax credit for the purchase of new light-duty electric vehicles and include a new tax credit for medium and heavy-duty natural gas trucks;
• Promote the continued development of natural gas refueling infrastructure through the extension and increase of the Alternative Fuel Vehicle Refueling Infrastructure Tax Credit;
• Encourage the use of more clean-fueling Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) marine and shipping applications on inland waterways;
• Support the transitioning of federal fleets to alternative fuels like natural gas; and
• Invest in new domestic natural gas R&D activities and Clean Cities program initiatives, supporting local clean air and climate change community efforts across the country.

Currently, the federal government incentivizes electric vehicle deployment but does not also incentivize abundant, domestic, clean transportation options fueled by natural gas. Ensuring natural gas competes on an even playing field enables American energy and American manufacturing to provide cleaner air and grow our economy.

The cleanest heavy-duty engine in the world is American-made and powered by natural gas. Pair this technology with renewable natural gas—derived from agriculture, food, and landfill waste as well as wastewater systems—and even greater CO2 and GHG emissions reductions are achieved. With renewable natural gas, fuel can be carbon neutral or even carbon negative.

“We can wait and wait for possible electric and fuel cell options to be developed, commercialized for heavy-duty applications years from now and live with our transportation sector’s current negative air quality impact until then,” added Gage.  “Or we can accelerate the transition to domestically-fueled natural gas vehicles today and begin to immediately enjoy clean air benefits.”

For more information on the benefits of natural gas in transportation, visit the NGVAmerica website.

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NGVAmerica is a national organization of over 200 companies, environmental groups, and government organizations dedicated to the development of a growing, profitable, and sustainable market for vehicles and carriers powered by natural gas or biomethane.  NGVAmerica member companies produce, distribute, and market natural gas and biomethane across North America, manufacture and service natural gas vehicles, engines, and equipment, and operate fleets powered by clean-burning gaseous fuels.  Find out more at: www.ngvamerica.org.