PENNSYLVANIA ADDS ANOTHER CNG STATION

On Thursday, the first CNG station in the Bucks County (Pennsylvania) opened for business. “The future is here,” said Bill Rickett, executive director of the Transportation Management Association (TMA) of Bucks County. “There is no reason Pennsylvania can’t become energy self-sufficient in the next decade.” The station, located in the town of Fairless Hills and owned and operated by Clean Energy, follows more than five years of lobbying by the TMA and others for a cleaner, cheaper source of fuel. The project had languished until about a year ago, when paving company Patch Management moved its headquarters to the area and leased land to Clean Energy for the station. Patch Management is also working with a manufacturer to convert its “Pothole Killer” trucks to run on CNG. “We lean toward green,” Patch president Craig Baclit said. “How else to do it? Support CNG.” Bucks County Transport currently has 15 CNG buses and plans to add another four before the end of the year and 5 to 10 vehicles next year. They hope to one day to have all 91 of its buses running on CNG. The station is the first public station in Southeastern Pennsylvania, although PECO Energy has five private locations around Philadelphia, and South Jersey Gas has four stations, including a Clean Energy public station in Camden.