NGV Weight Bill Introduced in Senate

This week, Sens. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) and Joe Donnelly (D-IN) introduced the Natural Gas Long Haul Truck Competitiveness Act of 2014 (S. 2721), legislation to allow natural gas trucks to exceed the weight restriction placed on trucks operating on the Interstate Highway System. The extra weight of high-pressure or insulated natural gas fuel tanks and associated equipment, which can amount to 2,000 lbs. or more, means a CNG or LNG truck cannot carry the same amount of very heavy freight as a diesel truck. In those situations, this causes a revenue loss of up to 2–3 percent due to reduced payload. The S. 2721 would allow a natural gas truck to exceed the weight limit by the difference between the additional weight of the natural gas fuel system in use and the weight of a comparable diesel tank fueling system. The proposal is an encouraging step to correcting this issue. NGVAmerica thanks Sens. Inhofe and Donnelly for the initiative and looks forward to working with them on this legislation. Similar legislation, HR 3940, has been introduced in the House by Reps. Sam Graves (R-MO) and Lee Terry (R-NE).