Boren Amendment Boosts Natural Gas Vehicle Funding

October 6, 2009 -- WASHINGTON D.C. - An amendment authored by U.S. Congressman Dan Boren and included in the FY 2010 Energy and Water Appropriations Act has now passed both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. The amendment provides a $5 million funding boost at the U.S. Department of Energy for research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) of natural gas vehicle (NGV) technology.

The amendment, and the underlying legislation in which it was included, was approved late last week and now heads to the White House where it is expected to be signed into law.

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Boren’s amendment would add the $5 million to the EERE Vehicles Technologies, Fuels Technology program. The amendment would help advance NGV technology and accelerate the nation’s movement toward energy independence.

“This funding is an important step in continuing to bring natural gas vehicle technology to the marketplace here in the United States. Increased use of NGVs, especially medium and large trucks, buses, and service vehicles, will promote U.S. energy security by reducing our dependence on foreign energy sources. At the same time, natural gas vehicles can provide us with a cheaper, cleaner, and domestically abundant alternative to traditional fuel sources. This effort goes hand in hand with helping municipalities develop cost effective ways to manage their vehicle fleets and with recent announcements about the Federal government’s plan to reduce it’s environmental footprint,” Boren said.

In 1992, Congress authorized the Vehicle Technologies program within DOE’s Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) to fund a wide range of research activities on passenger vehicles and heavy-duty trucks. The program’s mission is to “develop ‘leap frog’ technologies that will provide Americans with greater freedom of mobility and energy security, while lowering costs and reducing impacts on the environment.” Although the Department of Energy funded natural gas vehicle RD&D through this program until FY2005, since then there have been no DOE activities in this area.

While the majority of the petroleum used in the U.S. is imported, natural gas is domestically produced. According to the Potential Gas Agency at the Colorado School of Mines, the U.S. natural gas resource base is over a 100 year supply. In 2008, NGVs displaced 250 million gallons of petroleum in the U.S. With adequate support, by 2020 that amount could grow to 10 billion gallons according NGVAmerica.

Source: Congressman Dan Boren