Introduced by Rep. Weisz, Kempenich and J. Nelson, and Sen. Burckhard, Klein and Schaible, House Bill 1446 seeks to offer incentives to encourage the use of natural gas vehicles as well as the construction of natural gas fueling infrastructure in North Dakota. It includes the implementation of two schemes: a fueling station incentive program and a vehicle incentive program.
Under HB 1446, the State’s Department of Commerce will administer the fueling station program to provide cost-share grants of up to a maximum $250,000 per retail location for equipment and installation of equipment to dispense natural gas. The department will establish regulations for the program including rules relating to the verification of costs, eligibility of recipients, application and grant award procedures and reporting requirements.
North Dakota’s Department of Commerce will also administer the vehicle incentive program to provide a cost-share grant of up to $7,500 for the purchase or conversion of a (new) noncommercial vehicle that uses natural gas as the primary fuel. Moreover, the department will provide a cost-share grant of up to $15,000 for a new commercial vehicle or for the conversion of a used vehicle that uses natural gas as the primary fuel.
The bill establishes the sum of $1,000,000, or so much of the sum as may be necessary, for the natural gas fueling station incentive program, and the sum of $3,000,000 for the natural gas vehicle incentive program, in both cases for the biennium beginning on July 1, 2015, and ending on June 30, 2017.
Source: North Dakota Legislative Branch
