[OKC] FW: House Approves Speaker's Alternative Energy Bills

[Shauna Struby]

From: Speaker Media [mailto:Speaker.Media at okhouse.gov] 
Sent: Monday, March 09, 2009 4:14 PM
To: Speaker Media
Subject: House Approves Speaker's Alternative Energy Bills

 



 

CONTACT:

Jennifer Monies, Press Secretary

Oklahoma House of Representatives

Office of House Speaker Chris Benge

Office: 405-962-7679

Cell: 405-550-8144

Email: jenniferm at okhouse.gov

 

House Approves Speaker's Alternative Energy Bills

 

OKLAHOMA CITY (March 9, 2009) - Legislation seeking to attract alternative
energy companies to Oklahoma and allow for an expansion of the alternative
fuel infrastructure in the state passed the House today. 

House Bill 1953, by House Speaker Chris Benge, would make companies that
support, repair and maintain service activities for wind industry energy
companies eligible for the state's Quality Jobs Act. This legislation would
seek to attract companies to Oklahoma involved in all aspects of the wind
energy industry. 

"In addition to our state's strong oil and natural gas energy heritage, wind
energy is increasingly becoming a player as we seek to diversify our
resources," said Benge, R-Tulsa. "This change will attract additional
companies to our state that can take advantage of our local wind supply." 

The bill would give companies financial incentives to move to Oklahoma if
they create new, well-paying jobs and offer their employees health
insurance. 

Legislation allowing the Department of Central Services to build alternative
fueling infrastructure for use by state agencies and political subdivisions
of the state also passed the House today. 

House Bill 1952, also authored by Speaker Benge, seeks to help expand the
number of vehicles in the state running on alternative fuels like compressed
natural gas. The legislation will also help expand the number of publicly
available fueling stations across the state. 

"Much like the inter-state highway system, government has a role to play
when it comes to building infrastructure, which then works to serve as an
incentive to private industry," said Benge. "Oklahoma is poised to lead the
way nationally in alternative energy sources, much like we have remained an
energy leader with our oil and natural gas production. These bills will
provide some stability to these expanding sources while still allowing the
private sector to be the true driver."

The bill would allow DCS to provide fleet services to schools, county and
municipal governments and provide public access to alternative fueling
infrastructure in underserved areas unless a private provider locates within
five miles.

The "State Fleet Management Fund" will also be amended to allow money from
the fund to be used to build alternative fueling infrastructure or to
acquire alternative fuel vehicles for use by state agencies or to lease to
political subdivisions. The bill states that money from lease payments would
be deposited into the fund.

The allowable loan amount out of the fund for a fill station will increase
to $300,000, and a current cap of $10,000 per vehicle conversion will remain
intact. 

Finally, HB 1952 would repeal cost-prohibitive California Air Resources
Board emission limits, and instead defer to emissions standards put in place
by the federal Environmental Protection Agency. This change will make
conversions easier and less cost-prohibitive but would still keep federal
standards in place on all conversion kits. 

Both bills are part of Benge's ongoing energy initiative to make sure
Oklahoma is on the forefront of the development of alternative energy
sources to reduce our dependence on volatile foreign oil. 

House Bill 1952 passed the House today with a vote of 95-3 and HB 1953
passed with a vote of 94-5. Both bills will next be heard in the Senate. 

 

-30-

 

NOTICE: The information in this email is confidential, legally 
privileged, and exempt from disclosure under law. It is intended 
solely for the addressee. Access to this email by anyone else is 
unauthorized. If you are not the intended recipient, any 
disclosure, 
copying, distribution or any action taken or omitted to be taken 
in 
reliance on it, is prohibited and unlawful. 
 
The Oklahoma House of Reps does not warrant any e-mail 
transmission received as being virus free, and disclaims any 
liability 
for losses or damages arising from the use of this e-mail or its 
attachments. Recipients of e-mail assume the risk of possible 
computer 
virus exposure by opening or utilizing the e-mail and its 
attachments, 
and waive any right or recourse against the House by doing so. 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.sustainableokc.org/pipermail/okc-sustainableokc.org/attachments/20090309/fa617bf9/attachment.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/gif
Size: 4163 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.sustainableokc.org/pipermail/okc-sustainableokc.org/attachments/20090309/fa617bf9/attachment.gif>