Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. R. 391-3-21-.13 - Georgia Diesel Engine Retrofit Project Grant

(1) Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Program (CMAQ) Fiscal Year (FY) 2009 Georgia Diesel Retrofit Project Scope and Purpose. Grants are available under the Federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) grant program for retrofitting diesel vehicles that are located or operated in a PM_2.5 nonattainment area.

(a) General Terms and Conditions of the Grant.

1. Projects submitted for funding under this Grant must identify the vehicles for retrofit and the type of emission control equipment to be used.

2. Submitted projects must conform to all applicable programmatic and administrative conditions including, without limitation, coordination with EPD personnel; use of retrofit technologies that have been or will be verified or certified under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) Retrofit Program or the California Air Resources Board (CARB); submission of quarterly reports when applicable; submission of a final report when applicable; compliance with applicable Federal procurement and subgrant procedures; certification that the emission control equipment was properly installed and is in working condition; use of data-logging in accordance with manufacturer specifications of diesel vehicles that will be equipped with emission control equipment on existing routes to ensure proper exhaust temperature profiles; proper maintenance of vehicles and retrofit equipment and enforcement of warranty claims against vendors if a maintenance problem arises; and use of the emission control equipment on the vehicles for a minimum of four years unless the equipment is damaged beyond repair or the vehicle becomes inoperable and is unable to be repaired.

(b) Eligible Recipients of the Grant. An eligible applicant is any public school system fleet located or operated in a designated PM_2.5 nonattainment area. To receive funding, participating public school systems must own and operate their fleet.

(c) Criteria for the Award. The request for applications will be limited to applications that retrofit school buses located or operated in a PM_2.5 nonattainment area. Applications from school systems for this grant must include emission control equipment that is or will be verified or certified by EPA or CARB. Funding for the selected school systems will be limited to $1.2 million. Projects will be ranked by cost effectiveness on a cost-per-ton-of-emissions-reduced basis.

(d) Deadline For Submittal. EPD will send out the first solicitation for applications on or before November 30, 2010. Applications will be due within six weeks after release of the solicitation. Funding will be distributed based on the criteria for award between applicants that reply within the first solicitation period. If funds remain after grants are awarded to all qualified projects from the first solicitation, additional solicitation(s) will be issued until all of the funds have been obligated. For each solicitation, retrofit projects will be awarded based on the order in which projects rank within the criteria selection process. The applications will be evaluated based on the criteria stated in Subsection (c).

(e) Directions For Submitting Applications for the Georgia Diesel Retrofit Project Grant. Requests for copies of the general guidelines, proposal forms and submittal of applications for the Fiscal Year 2009 CMAQ Georgia Diesel Retrofit Project Grant should be made to:

Georgia Environmental Protection Division

Mobile and Area Sources Program

Attn: Stacy Allman

4244 International Parkway, Suite 136

Atlanta, Georgia 30354

e-mail: stacy.allman@dnr.state.ga.us

(f) Award of the FY 2009 CMAQ Georgia Diesel Retrofit Project Grant is subject to Federal funding provided to EPD. EPD may fund individual projects less than the requested amounts if necessary to distribute funds among equally-ranked projects or to reduce the project cost to the maximum allowable distribution.

(2) Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Program (CMAQ) Georgia Diesel Engine Retrofit Project Scope and Purpose. Grants are available under the Federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) grant program for purchasing and installing diesel emission control devices, purchasing of school buses that will replace an existing diesel school bus early, repowering of diesel school buses, and/or rebuilding of school bus diesel engines that are located or operated in a PM_2.5 nonattainment and/or maintenance area.

(a) General Terms and Conditions of the Grant.

1. Projects submitted for funding under this Grant must:

(i) Identify the school buses for early replacement to be replaced with buses that have 2010 or newer model year engines certified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or the California Air Resources Board (CARB);

(ii) Identify the school buses for repowering and the replacement engine manufacturer, model, model year, and fuel type, and use a replacement engine which is certified by EPA or CARB to a cleaner emission standard than the original engine;

(iii) Rebuild the existing engine to an EPA or CARB certified cleaner emission standard and identify the school buses for which the engines will be rebuilt; and/or

(iv) Identify the school buses for installing emission control devices and type of emission control equipment to be used.

2. Submitted projects must conform to all applicable programmatic and administrative conditions including, without limitation:

(i) Coordination with EPD personnel;

(ii) Use of verified emission control technologies under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) Retrofit Program or the California Air Resources Board (CARB) for projects including emission control equipment;

(iii) Follow guidelines established by EPA regarding qualifications for vehicle early replacement, vehicle repower, and engine rebuilds and disposal of replaced vehicle or engine;

(iv) Submission of quarterly and final reports when requested;

(v) Compliance with applicable Federal procurement and subgrant procedures;

(vi) Certification that the emission control equipment was properly installed and is in working condition when applicable;

(vii) Use of data-logging in accordance with manufacturer specifications of diesel school buses that will be equipped with emission control equipment on existing routes to ensure proper exhaust temperature profiles;

(viii) Proper maintenance of school buses and retrofit equipment and enforcement of warranty claims against vendors if a maintenance problem arises, as applicable;

(ix) Use of the emission control equipment and/or rebuilt engine on the school buses and/or use of repowered and replacement school buses for a minimum of four years unless the equipment is damaged beyond repair and/or the vehicle becomes inoperable and is unable to be repaired; and

(x) Submit documentation on the decommissioning of the replaced school bus engine in projects that include early bus replacement or bus repowering.

(b) Eligible Recipients of the Grant. An eligible applicant is any public school system located or operated in a designated PM_2.5 nonattainment or maintenance area. To receive funding, participating public school systems must own and operate their fleet.

(c) Match Requirements. Project applicants shall be required to match a minimum of 20% of the project cost for purchasing and installing emissions control devices on their diesel school buses, to match a minimum of 50% of the project cost to purchase early replacement school buses, and/or match a minimum of 25% of the project cost to repower and/or rebuild school bus engines.

(d) Criteria for the Award. Grant awards will be limited to projects that include the purchase and installation of diesel emission control devices, the purchase of school buses that will replace an existing diesel school bus early, repowering of diesel school buses, and/or rebuilding of school bus diesel engines that are located or operated in a PM_2.5 nonattainment and/or maintenance area. For projects including the early replacement of existing school buses, buses that are scheduled in the project applicant's budget to be replaced in the current or following budget year, in relation to the solicitation period, do not qualify for early replacement. In the event that the total requested funding in the eligible projects exceed the available funding, EPD will determine the projects to be selected for awards in accordance with the following priorities:

1. First priority will be given for projects purchasing and installing emission control devices on diesel school buses.

2. Second priority will be given for projects replacing existing diesel school buses early, repowering diesel school buses with a lower polluting engine, and/or rebuilding school bus diesel engines to a cleaner emission standard.

3. Within each priority, applications will be ranked according to the cost effectiveness of the project (cost per ton of emission reduced over the lifetime of the project).

(e) Deadline For Submittal. EPD will send out the first solicitation for applications on or before April 1, 2012. Applications will be due within six weeks after release of the solicitation. Funding will be distributed based on the criteria for award between applicants that reply within the first solicitation period. If funds remain or additional funds are received after grants are awarded to all qualified projects from the first solicitation, additional solicitation(s) will be issued until all of the funds have been obligated. In the first solicitation, projects will be awarded based on the order in which projects rank within the criteria selection process. The applications will be evaluated based on the criteria stated in Subsection (d). If additional solicitations are needed, applications will be awarded based on the order in which projects rank within the criteria selection process. The applications will be evaluated based on the criteria stated in Subsection (d).

(f) Directions For Submitting Applications for the Georgia Diesel Engine Retrofit Project Grant. Requests for copies of the general guidelines, proposal forms and submittal of applications for the CMAQ Georgia Diesel Engine Retrofit Project Grant should be made to:

Georgia Environmental Protection Division

Mobile and Area Sources Program

Attn: Stacy Allman

4244 International Parkway, Suite 134

Atlanta, Georgia 30354

e-mail: stacy.allman@dnr.state.ga.us

(g) Award of the CMAQ Georgia Diesel Engine Retrofit Project Grant is subject to Federal funding provided to EPD. EPD may fund individual projects less than the requested amounts if necessary to distribute funds among equally-ranked projects or to reduce the project cost to the maximum allowable distribution.

Notes

Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. R. 391-3-21-.13

O.C.G.A. Sec. 12-9-6.

Original grant description entitled "Georgia Diesel Engine Retrofit Project Grant" submitted November 19, 2010. Submitted: Jul. 18, 2012.