Future of "Utah Clean Air Plates"

[Harpoon]

1. What is the future of the Clean Fuel/Clean Air plates in 2009?
2. Will they still be available in 2009?
3. Are they going to be for dedicated CNG only cars?
4. Is there still going to be a $60-80 road tax fee even though they are adding .08 at the pump?
5. What about us bi-fuels, are we grandfathered to keep our plates?


The reason for all my questions is, "If the clean air plates are getting yanked in 2009 then I am not going to pay the road tax and renew mine, but if they are removing the road tax fee and grandfathering in those who have clean plates then everyone should go get clean plates this year."

[Highmarker]

Re: Future of "Utah Clean Air Plates"

Harpoon,

Here is what I "dug up" on the Utah DMV website.

1. What is the future of the Clean Fuel/Clean Air plates in 2009?

I don't know if they are planning on using the same license plate or not.

2. Will they still be available in 2009?

The "HOV Lane Access" plate will be available in 2009. Now, if it is the same plate as this year's or a new one, I don't know.

3. Are they going to be for dedicated CNG only cars?

Yes, the plate will be for dedicated CNG vehicles only.

4. Is there still going to be a $60-80 road tax fee even though they are adding .08 at the pump?

No, this road tax fee will be done away with and a 8.5 cent/GGE will be collected at the pump.

5. What about us bi-fuels, are we grandfathered to keep our plates?

As far as I know, No. According to the DMV, once your vehicle no longer meets the requirements for the "Clean Fuel Clean Vehicle" plate you MUST surrender the plate to the DMV.

[Harpoon]

Re: Future of "Utah Clean Air Plates"

Thanks for your insight Jared, however I am still left questioning this as i researched further I found this quote from John here: There is no special annual fee for the C plate, just a $5 fee when it is first made. So the C plate will be no charge for us after Jan 2009! If it is true that the clean plates will still be available in 2009, I am willing to bet that we (bi-fuels) will be grandfathered in to keep our plates. John do you have a source for your knowledge the clean plates will be available in 2009?

[John Mitton]

Re: Future of "Utah Clean Air Plates"

Well, we are mixing the results of two Legislative bills here in the discussion

HB 62 put Utah in line with the Federal statute in only allowing the dedicated alternative fuel vehicles as well as certain hybrids (Prius, Civic, Insight) as single-occupant HOV lane access. Separately, HB 106 eliminated the $85 clean fuel tax certificate (which was hard to enforce since only those who wanted HOV lane access would bother to pay) instead collecting 8.5 cents/gge at the pump.

So how the Tax Commission (the DMV is part of this Commission) chooses to implement these bills is kind of anyone's guess. At the Senate hearing for HB106 I met up with Pam Hendrickson who chair's the Commission. Here is my follow-up e-mail with her. Note that the context of our e-mail was that our online community wanted to know so I have no problem posting her reply. Sorry gang that I did not post this earlier

--------------------------------

Hello Pam,

It was nice meeting you today at the Senate committee meeting. Our natural gas vehicle owner community was initially very much alarmed with the version that passed the House, as it would have gutted a highly successful petroleum displacement statute in favor of incentives for gasoline vehicles. Last year Questar dispensed over 2,000,000 gallon (equivalent) of natural gas into our vehicles, which is primarily a Utah fuel as opposed to the traditional vehicle fuels coming largely from foreign and hostile sources.

Again, if you could look into the annual cost for the "C" plate for us it would be appreciated. Many in our community would like to know the resulting annual costs post-HB106 (see post #5 below).
http://www.cngchat.com/forum/showthread.php?p=2731

Thanks again,
John Mitton

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Good morning John,

I enjoyed visiting with you yesterday. I have reviewed our license plate statute and find that there is no extra charge for the C plate. It has the first time charge of $5. just as any new plate has but there is no charge for following year renewals.

Thanks for your interest and for getting information out to our citizens. We do appreciate working with you to keep them informed.

Pam Hendrickson
Tax Commission Chair
210 North 1950 West
Salt Lake City UT 84134