NGVAmerica News Week in Review: October 26, 2015

• House T & I Committee Approves Long-Term Highway Bill
• California’s Goods Movement Emission Reduction Program Offers Funding
• Saddle Creek Reaches 50 Million Miles on CNG, Strengthens Commitment
• Agility Fuel Systems Opens New Facility in North Carolina
• IGS CNG Services Opens CNG Fueling Station in Indiana
• TruStar Energy Builds CNG Fueling Station for Advanced Disposal
• Emterra Group and Partners Open Canada’s Largest Public CNG Station
• Westport Announces New Agreements with Volvo Group for HPDI 2.0
• EPA SmartWay Awards Freight Carriers for Supply Chain Efficiency
• International Paper Extends “Virtual Pipeline” Contract with NG Advantage
• Pentagon Energy Enters into a CNG Supply Agreement for up to 90 BCF

 

House T & I Committee Approves Long-Term Highway Bill

On Thursday afternoon, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee approved its version of a long-term (six year) highway bill, the STRR Act of 2015 (H.R. 3763), by a unanimous voice vote. The STRR Act would authorize spending up to $325 billion on transportation projects over the next six years, including $261 billion dedicated to highways. The full House must now take action on the bill and a conference with the Senate must follow.

The Senate passed its version of a long term (six year) highway bill, the DRIVE Act, in July. However, there are other huge roadblocks to surpass. Besides reconciling the House Highway bill with the Senate passed measure, the House Ways and Means Committee must still come up with the funding for the STRR Act. Complicating the matter further is that the current Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee may shortly be the new Speaker of the House of Representatives.  More immediately, however, because the current short-term patch authorizing spending on transportation runs out on October 29, lawmakers are scrambling to pass at least an extension of transportation funding by next Thursday to prevent an interruption.

The Department of Transportation has warned that it will have to stop making payments to states and local governments for infrastructure projects in November if Congress does not reach an agreement.

 

California’s Goods Movement Emission Reduction Program Offers Funding

October 21, 2015

In partnership with the California Air Resources Board (CARB), California air districts are accepting applications for alternative fuel truck grants under the state’s Goods Movement Emission Reduction Program. Established under Proposition 1B, the program aims to reduce air pollution emissions and health risk from freight movement along California’s trade corridors. Air Districts accepting applications include the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District, San Joaquin Air Pollution Control District, South Coast Air Quality Management District, and the San Diego Air Pollution Control District. One of the program’s main goals is to help offset the costs of replacing old diesel trucks with new, cleaner models.

The following funding opportunities are available:

Class 8 or Class 7 trucks with a model-year (MY) 2009 or older diesel engine:

• $200,000/truck for a new zero-emission replacement truck with a MY 2015 or newer engine.
• $150,000/truck for a new hybrid replacement truck capable of zero-emission miles with a MY 2015 or newer engine.
• $100,000/truck for a new optional low-NOx replacement truck with a MY 2015 or newer engine (0.02 g/bhp-hr or less NOx).
• $80,000/truck for a new hybrid replacement truck with a MY 2015 or newer engine.
• $65,000/truck for a new natural gas replacement truck with a MY 2015 or newer engine.

Class 6 trucks with a MY 2006 or older diesel engine:

• $100,000/truck for a new zero-emission replacement truck with a MY 2015 or newer engine.

Class 6 trucks with a MY 1998 to 2009 diesel engine:

• $65,000/truck for a new hybrid replacement truck capable of zero-emission miles with a MY 2015 or newer engine.
• $50,000/truck for a new optional low-NOx replacement truck with a MY 2015 or newer engine (0.02 g/bhp-hr or less NOx).
• $45,000/truck for a new hybrid replacement truck with a MY 2015 or newer engine.
• $40,000/truck for a new natural gas replacement truck with a MY2015 or newer engine.

The guidelines say eligibility requirements include a commitment to move goods a majority of the time and a commitment to at least 50 percent of travel within the four California trade corridors. Those corridors include the Bay Area, Central Valley, Los Angeles/Inland Empire, and San Diego/Border. Also, to be eligible for the funds, the truck must have been registered in California and run 90 percent of its annual mileage in the state. It also must be equipped with a diesel engine model year 2009 or older.

The deadline for this round of funding is Friday, November 20, 2015. More information is available on the Goods Movement Emission Reduction Program website. Additional information is also available from CARB’s Goods Movement Information Line at 916.444.6637 or by email at gmbond@arb.ca.gov.

 

Saddle Creek Reaches 50 Million Miles on CNG, Strengthens Commitment

October 15, 2015

Saddle Creek Logistics Services announced that it continues to expand its CNG operations as its CNG fleet reaches the 50-million-mile mark this month. Since its launch in 2012, Saddle Creek’s CNG fleet has grown from 40 tractors to 200 dedicated tractors to meet customer demand. By using CNG trucks instead of diesel, Saddle Creek has replaced more than 9 million gallons of diesel with natural gas.

Saddle Creek’s environmentally-friendly fleet now serves the Southeast and Southwest with operations in Lakeland and Jacksonville, Florida; Atlanta and Valdosta, Georgia; and Fort Worth, Texas. Fortune 500 companies and major retailers are tapping this eco-friendly fleet to support of their corporate sustainability programs.

Saddle Creek continues to regularly upgrade its fleet technology and is now operating the sixth generation of Freightliner CNG trucks. To accommodate the growing fleet, Saddle Creek recently completed a $1.5-million upgrade to the fueling facility at its headquarters in Lakeland, Florida. To further reduce emissions, Saddle Creek is in the process of converting 50 older diesel tractors into dual fuel CNG-diesel vehicles.

“The 50-million-mile mark is a significant milestone for our CNG program,” said Mike DelBovo, president, Saddle Creek Transportation. “We look forward to working with our industry partners to expand the nation’s infrastructure to support the adoption of natural gas as a fuel source on an even broader scale.”

 

Agility Fuel Systems Opens New Facility in North Carolina

October 21, 2015

Agility Fuel Systems celebrated the opening of their new manufacturing plant in Salisbury, North Carolina, with a ribbon cutting ceremony at which more than 300 guests attended. The new 204,000 sq. ft. facility will be the industry’s first vertically integrated natural gas fuel system production facility, ensuring best in class products, quality cost and lead times. It marks the transition in Agility’s manufacturing footprint from Kelowna, Canada, to the new plant in North Carolina that will happen over the next six months. Kelowna will remain as Agility’s Technical Engineering center for the company.

“Salisbury is proud to partner with Agility Fuel Systems on this new facility, bringing jobs to our community and producing a clean technology product that has a positive environmental impact,” said Salisbury Mayor Paul Woodson.

The Salisbury plant will produce lighter, higher capacity CNG cylinders in-house. The facility is equipped with the latest Computer Numerically Controlled (CNC) laser and metals fabrications technology to ensure exacting dimensional control guaranteeing the best quality, and an automated paint shop with both powder and wet-coat capabilities. The facility will also assemble and install the fuel systems for a variety of vehicle systems and a range of customers’ requirements and applications.

“With this facility which represents a $20 million dollar investment, we will be able to meet and exceed the most stringent product requirements that our fleet customers, dealers, and OEMs demand,” said William Nowicke, Agility Fuel Systems COO.  “We want to thank all of our suppliers, contractors and employees for making this plant a reality.”

 

IGS CNG Services Opens CNG Fueling Station in Indiana

October 19, 2015

IGS CNG Services and Speedway have opened their CNG fueling station in South Bend, Indiana. It is located at the State Route 31 exit off Indiana Toll Road Interstate 80/90, and the station is IGS CNG Services’ second CNG station within Speedway’s fueling network. The other CNG station is located in Findlay, Ohio. The station features two fuel lanes with four hoses dedicated to dispensing CNG. The South Bend location is the eleventh IGS CNG Services stations to service the public. Of the 11 stations, this is the first in the state of Indiana. IGS CNG Services currently operates seven stations in Ohio and three stations in West Virginia.

 

TruStar Energy Builds CNG Fueling Station for Advanced Disposal

October 19, 2015

TruStar Energy has opened a new time-fill fueling station designed and built for Advanced Disposal in Hartland, Wisconsin. TruStar Energy and Advanced Disposal have partnered on 11 stations nationwide. The time-fill station consists of two 200 horsepower compressors with fueling hoses to fuel 58 trucks and came at a cost of $1.7 million.

“We are on track to meet our goal to increase our CNG fleet to 15 percent by the end of 2015,” said Advanced Disposal CEO Richard Burke. “This cleaner fuel source lowers our company’s carbon footprint, reduces costs of operations and ultimately helps us achieve our goals of being good stewards of the environment while enhancing stakeholder returns.”

Currently, 11 of the company’s trucks will refuel at the station every night. As the diesel trucks in Advanced Disposal’s fleet reach the end of their useful life, the company will replace many with CNG-fueled trucks. The company expects to have as many as 58 CNG-fueled trucks in their fleet to serve the community over the next several years. Customers will notice the logo on the trucks reads “powered by CNG.”

“Waste disposal and environmental service fleets are critical to the well-being of our neighborhoods,” said Lorrie Lisek, Executive Director of Wisconsin Clean Cities Coalition. “We appreciate Advanced Disposal and TruStar Energy’s investment in Wisconsin’s CNG fueling infrastructure and recognize them for their contribution toward creating a clean fuel future for our state.”

 

Emterra Group and Partners Open Canada’s Largest Public CNG Station

October 26, 2015

Canadian waste resources management provider Emterra Group and partners GAIN Clean Fuel and C.A.T. (formerly Canadian American Transportation Inc.) have opened what Emterra is calling the largest public CNG fueling station in Canada.

The project, which amounted to a $50 million investment, will provide cleaner-burning fuel to Emterra’s CNG-powered waste and recycling collection trucks to be used in the Region of Peel starting January 2016. The large investment also includes the land purchase and upgrades to maintenance facilities to make it CNG-certified.

The ‘fast-fill’ station will be open to other fleets and operators of CNG vehicles and the public, helping to make Ontario trucking businesses more competitive and sustainable. The new CNG station is Emterra’s fourth, with other stations located in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and in Chilliwack and Victoria, British Columbia.

 

Westport Announces New Agreements with Volvo Group for HPDI 2.0

October 19, 2015

Westport Innovations has entered into new agreements with Volvo Group governing the development, commercial launch and supply of Westport High Pressure Direct Injection (HPDI) 2.0 technology in its heavy-duty trucks over the next several years. For competitive reasons, further terms and conditions of the commercial agreements have not been disclosed.

“These agreements mark the progression of years of technology development and represents the successful contribution of many, many partners and customers who helped us develop HPDI,” said David Demers, CEO of Westport.

 

EPA SmartWay Awards Freight Carriers for Supply Chain Efficiency

October 19, 2015

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is honoring 40 truck carriers and, for the first time ever, a barge carrier, as industry leaders in supply chain environmental and energy efficiency with its annual SmartWay Excellence Awards. Awardees are environmentally responsible carriers—many of which employ natural gas vehicles—that move more goods more miles with lower emissions and less energy.

“EPA recognizes its top SmartWay carrier partners as they lead the way for their peers in this crucial sector of our economy,” said EPA’s Office Director of Transportation & Air Quality Christopher Grundler. “We all depend on an efficient and sustainable freight sector, and these award-winning SmartWay carriers have demonstrated that they can get the job done while saving fuel and reducing greenhouse gases and other harmful pollutants.”

EPA’s SmartWay Transport Partnership is a market-driven initiative that empowers businesses to move goods in the cleanest, most energy-efficient way possible to protect public health and reduce the emissions that contribute to climate change. Since 2004, SmartWay Partners have avoided emitting more than 60 million metric tons of the carbon pollution that contributes to climate change, while saving more than 140 million barrels of oil and more than $20 billion in fuel costs. SmartWay also contributes to cleaner air and healthier citizens by significantly reducing emissions of the pollution that contributes to smog.

The 2015 SmartWay Freight Carrier Excellence Award recipients are:

Arlo G Lott Trucking Inc., Idaho	Knight Transportation, Inc., Arizona
Cheyenne Express Inc., Michigan	LTI, Inc., Washington
Container Connection, California	Maverick Transportation LLC, Arkansas
Contrans Group Inc., Ontario	May Trucking Company, Oregon
Con-way Truckload, Missouri	MCL McGill Carriers Ltd., British Columbia
Covenant Transport, Tennessee	Modern Transportation Services, LLC, Pennsylvania
C.R. England, Inc., Utah	NEP Supershooters, Pennsylvania
Dedicated Transport LLC, Ohio	New World Van Lines, Illinois
DHL Express USA, Florida	Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc., North Carolina
Doug Andrus Distributing, Idaho	Prime, Inc., Missouri
D&D Transportation Services Inc., Idaho	Roehl Transport, Inc., Wisconsin
D. P. Curtis Trucking, Inc., Utah	RPM Harbor Services, Inc., California
Edwards Distribution Services, Inc., Pennsylvania	RSP Express Inc., Michigan
Frito-Lay, Texas	Schneider, Wisconsin
Heartland Express, Inc. of Iowa, Iowa	Swift Transportation Co., Arizona
Heritage Transport, LLC, Indiana	Toyota Transport-Toyota Logistics Services, Inc., California
Hill’s Pet Nutrition Sales, Inc., Kansas	Transport TFI 15, S.E.C., Gregoire, Quebec City
Ingram Barge Company, Tennessee	UPS Small Package, Georgia
J.B. Hunt Transport, Inc., Arkansas	Werner Enterprises, Nebraska
J & M Tank Lines, Inc., Alabama	Western Express, Inc., Tennessee

The award recipients were honored at the American Trucking Associations (ATA) Annual Management Conference & Exhibition in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. SmartWay also recognized shippers and logistics company award recipients on October 13, 2015 at the U.S. EPA Heavy Duty Technology Showcase in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

More information on SmartWay, click here.

 

International Paper Extends “Virtual Pipeline” Contract with NG Advantage

October 15, 2015

NG Advantage, a majority-owned subsidiary of Clean Energy, announced that it has signed an eighteen month contract extension with International Paper. Under this extension, NG Advantage will continue delivering CNG to International Paper’s Ticonderoga, New York, paper mill using its virtual or mobile pipeline of tractor-trailers that deliver 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

International Paper had long been planning a switch to natural gas to displace much of the #6 fuel oil used at the Ticonderoga mill in order to substantially reduce its environmental footprint and to take advantage of the price stability of the domestic fuel.

A mill as large as Ticonderoga requires a customized end-to-end energy supply chain. NG Advantage designed new hardware, developed new procedures, and built extensions to its cloud-based SCADA (control software). The result was deliveries beginning on schedule in May of 2015 with NG Advantage providing the mill with approximately 18 trailer loads of natural gas daily.

International Paper canceled its plans for a pipeline because of escalating delays and costs and issued an RFP for long-term virtual pipeline service to keep natural gas in their fuel mix. International Paper is the seventh paper mill and the twenty-sixth location to contract with NG Advantage.

           

Pentagon Energy Enters into a CNG Supply Agreement for up to 90 BCF

October 20, 2015

Pentagon Energy has entered into its first CNG contract with a leading global Natural Gas merchant. Under the terms of the transaction the buyer has agreed to purchase up to 90 BCF of CNG for a period of 5 years for distribution in the U.S. North East region. Pentagon Energy is planning to develop its first CNG Mother Station in the Marcellus shale region with the ability to compress up to 2.5 BCF per month.

Pentagon Energy is planning to use specially designed CNG Trailer trucks to transport the gas from the Mother Station to different locations in the U.S. North East market.   The development and manufacturing of the technology was undertaken by its sister company, Composites Advanced Technologies, “CAT CNG,” in Houston, Texas.

Pentagon Energy is planning to develop several Mother stations in the U.S. to supply CNG to locations that experience gas shortages or lack the infrastructure to receive gas. The Marcellus facility will be the largest of such stations in the U.S.

Pentagon Energy acquired Morgan Stanley CNG export business in April 2015.  “Our aim is to rapidly expand the CNG Mother/Daughter station concept into other local and international markets,” expressed Ryan Comerford, Principal of Pentagon Energy.