American Samoa's governor, Togiola Tulafono, has implemented a Hybrid Vehicle Purchasing policy for to reinforce his 2007 Climate Change executive order.
Togiola says the Executive Order mandates that all departments and agencies take definitive measures to ameliorate the short and long term effects of climate change.
Under a general memorandum issued on March 11, the governor outlined a new vehicle purchasing policy, which includes a step-by-step purchasing framework.
The new policy, according to the governor, will help to reduce not only American Samoa's greenhouse gas emissions, but also the Territory's annual operating costs.
He says that over the course of a single vehicle's lifetime, a hybrid vehicle will save more than 17,000 US dollars in fuel expenses alone compared to a heavy goods vehicle.
The governor says this issue is a priority and he has taken the lead by purchasing and utilizing a hybrid vehicle for his transportation.
