?As many residents of Centre County already know, six years ago the Centre Area Transportation Authority became one of the first public transportation agencies on the East Coast to replace its entire bus fleet with one that operates solely on clean compressed natural gas.
In the context of an environmental group’s recent report that ranked Pennsylvania in fifth place (tied with New Jersey) on the number of “smog days” in 2010, we are proud of our decision to convert to a natural gas fleet. By transitioning our buses to clean natural gas, we’ve been doing our part to curb harmful emissions of nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide and particulate matter.
In many ways, CATA has helped lead the way in the transition to natural gas-fueled fleet vehicles and shown it’s possible for a transportation agency to adopt natural gas as a primary fuel source. Since we first began our conversion to CNG in 1996, cities across the country have followed suit.
In Los Angeles, for example, 2,221 of the city’s 2,228 fleet vehicles are fueled by CNG, reducing greenhouse-gas emissions by about 300,000 pounds a day. Washington, D.C., also has joined in, with 439 transit buses now running on CNG.
A recent study from the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority found that these buses produce 53 percent lower emissions of nitrogen oxides and 85 percent less particulate matter.
In addition, cities such as Williamsport are planning their own CNG programs, which will add to the 25 fueling stations in operation across the state.
Williamsport’s River Valley Transit anticipates its new natural gas fueling station will be on-line and fueling cleaner vehicles by May, 2012. These refueling stations will allow for greater adoption of natural gas vehicles and significantly improve air quality in communities everywhere.
Most Pennsylvania residents are now aware of the abundance of natural gas here in the commonwealth, but more attention needs to be given to the environmental benefits natural gas offers.
In addition to providing jobs and a much-needed boost to our economy, natural gas can help clean our air through its use in vehicles and in power generation.
It is important that, as a state, we recognize these environmental benefits as well as the economic ones, and foster the safe and responsible development of this important energy source.
At CATA, we are proud to contribute to a cleaner tomorrow through natural gas utilization, and we urge other organizations to do the same.
Article source: http://www.cngnow.com/News/Post.aspx?ID=485