Terp Update (TCEQ and Regional)

The TCEQ announced that the rebate round has exhausted its allocated funds and is no longer accepting applications. For those in the Dallas-Fort Worth area the North Central Texas Council of Governments has a Clean Construction Equipment regional round that ends June 3rd. If you have any interest in submitting an application, please contact terp@romco.com

North Texas Regional TERP just opened

The North Central Texas Council of Governments just announced that they will be administering a $700,000 regional TERP program for North Texas (Denton, Collin, Parker, Tarrant, Dallas, Rockwall, Kaufman, Johnson, Ellis Counties). The application deadline is February 25th, 2011. For replacement activities the grant is limited to 25% of the Incremental Cost of the Project. For more information check out www.nctcog.org/construction or terp@romco.com.

Be Looking for Correspondence from TCEQ

With the ERIG grant round closing on August 13th, those who applied for a ERIG grant should be checking the mail for a letter from the TCEQ. In the past, applicants could expect to see letters 30-45 days from the closing date of the round.

TCEQ's ERIG Round Opens

Minutes ago the TCEQ announced the opening of their latest Emissions Reduction Incentive Grant (ERIG) round. The deadline to file is 5:00pm on August 13, 2010.

As a reminder for those new to the ERIG program this is not the first come, first served format used for Rebate Grants. The state collects all applications and weighs them against each other after the deadline.

Because of that ERIG rounds take a little more time, but normally (if you operate the equipment a significant number of hours) pay out larger grants.

You can review the official announcement and download forms here.

A Different Kind of Grant Round Opens

The state is accepting TERP applications for the Texas Clean Fleet Program (TCFP). The email just came down. This is not the ERIG or Rebate Grant program, but something different.

Here are a couple of key quotes:

"The TCFP grants are available to owners of fleets of 100 or more vehicles operated in Texas, at least 25 of which are diesel-powered vehicles."

"Grant applicants must commit to replace at least 25 diesel-powered vehicles with hybrid or alternative fuel vehicles."

We'll keep an ear open about the ERIG round, but again, this isn't it.

ERIG Round Delayed Until June

The round originally expected to open in April/May is now officially slated for sometime in June. These get pushed sometimes for administrative reasons.

It's Official: HDVEGP Grant Round Extended

The North Central Texas Council of Governments just announced they still have $2 million in grant funding available and they will continue taking applications on a first-come, first-served basis until June 25 or when the money runs out.

Also, if you got approved on this round after February 26th of this year you can purchase anytime before the end of 2010.

Deadlines for the end of the round and implementation were starting to loom so this helps some folks.

Here's a link to their page if you want to read more.

Don't Let Your Grant Approval Die On The Vine

We've seen some signs of things starting to turn around with the economy (knock on wood) and several customers have approved TERP grants from earlier rounds they set aside for better times.

Take this opportunity to go back and see exactly when your forms say your purchase deadline is. As long as it hasn't passed you have two options. You can purchase before the time runs out or file for an extension.

The 2009 ERIG round was the first in a long time where many applicants who filed correctly were turned down or placed on the contingency list. The TCEQ had more applicants than money.

If you already have grant approval make sure you hold on to it unless you are sure you are no longer going to buy.

Increased interest in the TERP program has made it tougher to get these dollars. Don't let them slip away.

ROMCO's Facebook Page

Just a quick step back from TERP talk for a general announcement...

We've created a Facebook page that will have some TERP news, but will mainly be a site for ROMCO in general. We'll post links to videos of interest and any manufacturer specials that could save you money on equiment or parts and service.

This page will still be the better to follow if your only interest is the TERP program, but if you have a FB account feel free to add us as a friend.

Rebate Grant Officially Closed For This Round

As of 3/1/2010 the Rebate Grant round officially closed.

Hopefully if you were planning to file you beat the deadline. Otherwise there's a grant round (ERIG) of the horizon in the next couple of months.

Rebate Grant Update: It's Going Fast

Two weeks after it opened this Rebate Grant round is almost out of funds. More than $13 million at the start has been whittled down to $1,286,932 as of Monday.

We had a few customers jump on this opportunity for ARRA stimulus dollars and it appears they weren't the only ones.

Rebate Grants may have gained some fans since recipents don't have the worry of meeting annual hour numbers.

The next round will be in the ERIG format in the April/May time frame. You may want to start thinking about how many hours you can comfortably commit to now.

TERP ARRA Rebate Grant Round Open

Word has come down in the last ten minutes or so that this has officially opened and forms are ready for download from the TCEQ's website.

On-road applications now allow for diesel, natural gas or propane powered vehicles, but since the focus here is off-road construction equipment I won't go into any more detail except to make you aware this widens the applicant pool a little which means more people competing for the same money.

This round closes on April 20, 2010, but since it is first come, first served there's a good chance the money will be gone by then anyway.

Good luck.

*UPDATE*

Forgot to list the starting dollar amount: $13,165,683 (as of February 8, 2010)

HDVEGP Puchase Deadline on the Horizon

If you have an approved grant with the HDVEGP then be aware the deadline to buy is April 30th of this year.

That is the round currently being run by the North Central Texas Council of Governments and money is actually still available.

At this point it would take a somewhat quick turnaround of gathering information, applying, getting approved and then purchasing, but you do have time.

With the ARRA-sponsored Rebate Grant round kicking off sometime this month and talk of an ERIG round opening in April or May there are some good grant opportunities out there.

Rebate Status The Same, ERIG Update

We're in a holding pattern for the next ARRA-sponsored Rebate Grant round which is still scheduled to start sometime in February. No solid date yet.

The next ERIG round will be in April or May based on what I've been told by the state. Keep in mind they have processes to go through and at times dates get pushed back, but that is what the expectations are as of today.

Rebate Grant Round On The Horizon

The TCEQ has announced an upcoming Rebate Grant round that will be funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The linked page above has the announcement and forms. Both are drafts at this point, are subject to revision and cannot be used to apply.

As of this moment there is not a start/opening date for this round. The deadline date is listed as April 30, 2010 so it has to start before then.

As of right now eligible counties for this round will include:
Austin - Williamson, Travis, Bastrop, Caldwell and Hays
Beaumont/Port Arthur - Hardin, Orange and Jefferson
Dallas/Ft. Worth - Denton, Collin, Tarrant, Dallas, Rockwall, Kaufman, Ellis, Johnson and Parker
Houston/Galveston/Brazoria - Brazoria, Ft. Bend, Waller, Montgomery, Liberty, Chambers, Galveston and Harris
San Antonio - Comal, Guadalupe, Wilson and Bexar
Tyler/Longivew - Upshur, Gregg, Rusk, Smith and Harrison

As is usually the case with Rebate Grant rounds these will be judged on a first come, first served basis whenever the round officially opens.

The state previously said March or April will have an ERIG round so that is looming ahead as well.

TCEQ TERP Meeting Tomorrow

The TERP program continues to evolve so the state makes a point of having public meetings before each round to clear up questions and ask for input from those who apply for TERP grants.

The meeting will start tomorrow at 10:00 am in Austin - link here for more details including a map - if you have the time and interest to attend. That same page has a document of the proposed changes.

I won't go into detail about every point since you can read it yourself and several of the items won't significantly affect our customers, but one item did stand out for heavy construction equipment buyers.

On the Rebate Grant program the state is considering requiring a minimum number of annual hours of use. The current application asks about hours, but they do not affect the grant.

As has been noted here several times Rebate Grants are much better for replacing lower annual hour units. It will be interesting to see what minimum threshold they set.

There are other items on the list. Some apply more to on-road or locomotives and not the focus of this page, heavy construction/mining equipment.

Some items do apply to our products, but they are not changes as much as putting existing policy down on paper which is a must when you do stuff like this.

Two New Links

I added a couple of links over to the side. One is for the H-GAC's regional TERP program and the other is for the HDVEGP round that the NCTCOG has been offering.

At last check the HDVEGP round in North Texas is down to about $2 million dollars remaining.

TERP Consultant Sentenced to 5 Years in Prison

From an email from the TCEQ:

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality today announced the recent conviction of a Denton County man, as a result of a forgery investigation conducted by the TCEQ Environmental Crimes Unit.

On Nov. 24, 2009, Claude Dean (C. D.) Stang, owner of Texas Grant Writers, of Aubrey, Texas, was sentenced to five years in prison for his role in forging signatures on the condition and use forms on Texas Emissions Reduction Plan grant applications. Stang pleaded guilty to one count of engaging in organized criminal activity. The investigation found that Stang not only forged signatures but also had other employees forge signatures on the forms and generated fraudulent quotes on equipment that was to be replaced.

The email also said Stang charged $600 to file an application which is in no way illegal, but it caught my eye since folks paid that PER MACHINE whether the grant application was approved or not.

I really would not take this as a sign that the TCEQ is itching to prosecute people. This looks like a crackdown on somebody trying to cheat the system since both Stang and his employees forged documents and signatures.

Don't be nervous that if you transposed a couple of digits in a serial number or if you end up using a machine mostly in Tarrant County instead of Dallas County that police are going to kick your door in. (Note: they do request notice if your machines operating counties change)

In every instance I've seen when an applicant does everything he can to be up front and accurate the state works with them including adjusting when annual hours of use cannot be met because of the economic slowdown.

Still, this needs to be a message to everybody that they do monitor the system and that we should all make an honest effort to work within the rules.

Official Notice On Rebate Grants

As a follow-up to the previous post, I just got an email that included this:

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) has received a sufficient number of applications to award the money allocated this fiscal year to grants under the Texas Emissions Reduction Plan (TERP) Rebate Grants Program. Therefore, the rebate grant round is closed and applications will no longer be accepted for this application period.

Successful applicants will be provided a signed contract soon. Unsuccessful applicants will be notified in writing over the next several weeks.

And then this:

New funding opportunities will be available in early 2010, including a special rebate grant round funded through a federal grant. New grant information will be posted on our Web site at www.terpgrants.org as details become available.

For the most part that isn't anything new, but I wasn't sure if the ERIG round previously mentioned would be accompanied by a rebate round. It sounds like it will and the money will be supplied by the feds. Who knows, maybe those are stimulus dollars like the ones that helped fund the round we have going with the NCTCOG right now.

Rebate Funds Exhausted For This Round

I just got off the phone with the state. They had not updated their remaining funds graphic on their website since 11/25/09 and it said they still had $3.3 million or so left, but that figure is no longer accurate.

They should be updating it soon, but if you're planning to file on a rebate grant you've missed your chance for this round. As of now they've committed all the funds.

You next chance is to file an application on the ERIG round that is supposed to be coming up in February or March of 2010.

If you tend to use your equipment a significant amount each year then the ERIG is a better choice for you anyway. The main drawback is that you commit to that number of hours and are expected to run the machine that much over the life of the grant term.