Compressed Natural Gas fueling station opens in Pennsylvania

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The next of 29 planned Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) fueling stations in Pennsylvania opened recently in Lebanon.

The CNG fueling stations are part of a 20-year, $84.5 million statewide Public Private Partnership between the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) and Trillium CNG.

Trillium will design, build and finance all fueling stations at 29 public transit agency sites as well as operate and maintain the stations. The company also will make CNG-related upgrades to existing transit maintenance facilities.

The Lebanon station is the 14th to open, and four more are scheduled to open this year in Butler, Erie, Mercer County, and Fayette. When all stations are completed, they will fuel more than 1,600 CNG buses.

Lebanon Transit plans to convert eight buses to CNG, saving approximately $50,000 in diesel costs annually. The agency uses about 35,000 gallons of diesel annually.

“This innovative program is helping transit agencies save on fuel costs while allowing them to move to a cleaner burning fuel,” Gov. Tom Wolf said. “These are important steps to helping us improve the quality of life across Pennsylvania.”

Some stations are open to the public. For every gallon of CNG sold to the public, PennDOT will receive a 15 percent royalty, excluding taxes.