States driving toward AFVs.

• Position: Alternatively fueled vehicles

It's the classic rock and hard place. The law says states have to run part of their fleets on something other than gasoline, but the rules aren't there to say how.

The Energy Policy Act of 1992 requires 10 percent of newly acquired vehicles in certain state fleets to run on alternative fuels in 1996. The percentage increases each model year until it levels off at 75 percent for 2000 and subsequent years. The deadline for starting was Sept. 1.

However, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has not completed the regulations governing state acquisition plans. "We just do not have the money or manpower to complete all the regulations we are responsible for writing. Some are completed by the statutory deadlines. Many have to wait," explained a DOE official.

The irony is that states are vulnerable to lawsuits filed by environmental groups, private sector companies and others with vested interest in the requirement for failure to comply with the federal statute - regardless of DOE's inability to provide the regulation.

To insulate against possible legal conflicts, states should be aware that most of the requirements are written into the statute, which leaves little discretion for DOE in writing the regulation.

The law defines state fleets as groups of at least 20 state-owned or state-operated light duty vehicles that travel in designated metropolitan areas. Light duty vehicles are cars, trucks, vans and similar vehicles designed to carry passengers and light cargo loads. Law enforcement, emergency response and off-road vehicles are exempt.

States affected by the law are those with designated metropolitan areas (cities with more than 250,000 people as of the 1980 census).

According to 1980 census data, six states - Alaska, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming - will not have to comply with this regulation because there...