Fueling Up: Expect to see more LNG fuel stations in the near future

By Diane Mettler

In June, Clean Energy Fuels opened the world’s largest natural gas truck fueling station on a 2.9-acre site adjacent to the Long Beach and Los Angles ports. The public access station — open 24/7, with two 25,000-gallon liquefied natural gas (LNG) storage tanks, six LNG dispensers, and two compressed natural gas (CNG) dispensers — is a successful public/private partnership between Clean Energy and the ports.

Although the LA/LB ports are extremely supportive of this kind of a station, due in part to their Clean Air Action Plan, it’s not limited to Southern California. You will begin seeing more of these kinds of stations popping up.

First steps
Greg Roche, spokesperson for Clean Energy Fuels, says that the company is working on a similar fueling station in Texas, because
California and Texas have some of the same issues. “They both have really bad air quality in their urban areas and they have a lot of trucking that goes on in these areas.”

Clean Energy foresees building out infrastructure initially in Southern California and Texas and then throughout the U.S.
“As we build out that infrastructure, local and regional truckers will be able to use it — not just port truckers, but the local/regional drivers as well. In California it won’t be hard for us to extend the network to Phoenix and to Las Vegas and Stockton,” says Roche. “As truckers adapt to the technology, they will be able to do corridor trucking between these major urban markets.

In Texas the company will build out infrastructure in Houston, Dallas and San Antonio. Their goal is to eventually create a LNG connection between Texas and California markets on the I-10 corridor.

However, Roche says, it will be some time before we will see long-haul truck drivers traveling from Billings, Mont., to North
Dakota to Florida with easy access to LNG. “They are a phase II effort,” he said.

Reasons to Support Natural Gas
There are numerous reasons why natural gas is gaining support:

• Cuts foreign oil dependence. Seventy percent of our oil is imported today, and about two-thirds of that comes from OPEC
  countries. However, there are ample natural gas reserves in North America — some
  estimate more than a 120-year supply.
• Lowers cost. Because of the ample supply of natural gas and its close proximity, the price is lower than imported oil.
• Creates more jobs. Natural gas is a domestic product, and as more people use it, it will put more people to work in the U.S. and in Canada, and more money will funnel back into our local economies.
• Improved drilling technologies. Natural gas is found throughout the U.S., but until
  recently, drilling was cumbersome. “In the last handful of years, companies have developed new drilling techniques that allow them to tap new sources of natural gas,” said Roche.
• Few Emissions. CNG and LNG are two of the cleanest-burning alternative fuels available.

“You can reduce your carbon footprint — your greenhouse gases — by up to 21 percent with natural gas,” said Roche. “Major corporations, especially those using trucks to move their goods, are really working hard to reduce their carbon footprint. This is low-hanging fruit, so it’s a big deal.”

Chicken and the Egg
Some feel it will be hard for the natural gas industry to move forward because it will take a leap of faith from either the vehicle makers or the fuel providers. A company doesn’t want to invest in a LNG truck if there aren’t any stations, nor do companies want to build stations before there are vehicles needing the gas.

“I always tell people that it’s the case of the chicken and the egg,” said Roche. “Both move forward at the same time. You can’t do
one without the other. So our proposal to fleets is, don’t let infrastructure slow you down because we’ll build the infrastructure that you need. We just need to partner together to make it work.”

The Future
Today there are millions of natural gas vehicles in the world, but in the U.S. there are only about 150,000. That disparity is due to the fact that for years we have had cheap fuel. However, there’s a common consensus that those “cheap fuel” times are in the past, and it’s easy to visualize natural gas vehicles here in the future.

“Natural gas fuel is cheaper, it’s cleaner, it’s abundant and it’s American,” said Roche. For those reasons and others, you’re likely to see a natural gas fuel station on your corner in the not-too-distant future.

In This Issue

Up Front

News, Trends & Analysis
New Items

The outlook is improving

Supply Chain
Federal chassis rules: Are you ready?

Working with the public sector

How will your company deal with Sarbanes-Oxley

Features
Gateway at a glance Southern California

Six case studies in green

Ports & infrastructure
Nowhere near a Peak Season this year

Port Products
Green port product review

Commentary
Sustainable: The new buzz word

On the Horizon
Expect to see more LNG fuel stations in the future

Casualties