NEW CNG STATION CONNECTS LOS ANGELES AND PHOENIX

Palo Verde Valley Transit (PVVTA), the City of Blythe and Riverside County (California) celebrated the opening of a CNG station that provides fueling to vehicles traveling between Los Angeles and Phoenix. The project has been 11 years in the making starting with a feasibility study in 2003 and grant money from Mojave Desert Air Quality Management District (MDAQMD) in 2004. But once focus began on the location of the station, keeping it away from residential areas and pinpointing feasible sites to build the large-scale station on, the funding partners withdrew. The future of the station was then dependent on finding other money sources to add to the MDAQMD previously awarded to PVVTA. Between 2008 and 2010, Hayday Farms, an LNG supplier, and PVVTA forged a relationship to meet the needs for both LNG and CNG. Following the partnership, PVVTA started buying CNG vehicles and purchasing the necessary fuel through Hayday. From 2010 and 2013, Hayday and PVVTA planned to build separate stations, with the recent location suitable for PVVTA needs and the public. Construction began in November With the support from the City of Blythe, construction began last November and work completed in April.