NGVAmerica Hosts Final Stop of NGV Road Rally Across America

NGVAmerica hosted the final stop on the 2^nd annual ‘From Sea-to-Shining-Sea’ NGV Road Rally Across America on Friday, June 16, at Freedom Plaza in Washington, D.C. At the final stop, event sponsors—the Greater Washington Region Clean Cities Coalition, the D.C. Department of Public Works, NGVAmerica, Washington Gas, Trillium CNG, and the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments—welcomed guests to Freedom Plaza, where many natural gas-powered vehicles were on display, including street sweeping trucks, refuse trucks, dump trucks and light-duty vehicles.

“NGVAmerica organized the 2nd Annual ‘From Sea-to-Shining Sea’ NGV Road Rally to draw greater attention to the large and growing network of natural gas fueling stations across America,” said Mitchell Pratt, Chair of NGVAmerica’s Board of Directors and Chief Operating Officer of Clean Energy Fuels Corp. “This event demonstrates that, today, natural gas vehicle fleets can travel coast to coast and border to border. Natural gas is a clean, cost-effective, abundant, and domestic fuel solution for transit, refuse, airport, and commercial fleets.  The communities that took part in the road rally benefit by having natural gas refueling infrastructure, and many more communities are learning about the advantages it brings.”

This year’s NGV Road Rally highlights the many benefits of using clean-burning, domestic natural gas in transportation and the variety of vehicles available today that operate on natural gas.

“CNG vehicles are a cost-effective, reliable and cleaner alternative to conventional fuel,” said Melissa E. Adams, Chief Corporate Social Responsibility Officer, WGL, the parent company of Washington Gas. “The 200 CNG cars and trucks WGL has in our fleet helped us achieve a 74 percent reduction in carbon emissions from our fleet and facilities from 2008 to 2015. They also emit little to no particulates—air pollution that has been linked to asthma, lung cancer, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and other diseases.”

The West coast-to-East coast road rally not only dispels the myth of NGV ‘range anxiety’ but also raises awareness about the historic Volkswagen Clean Air Act Civil Settlement, and serves to educate state and federal officials about how NGVs are the most cost-effective use of funds for clean transportation projects outlined in the $2.9 billion Environmental Mitigation Trust Fund.

“We’re proud to be here as sponsors and partners in showcasing NGVs today,” said Bill Cashmareck, Managing Director of Trillium CNG. “Our industry is only going to grow in the years to come, and this is just one step on that journey. We’re bringing our message to the masses and Washington to let them know that CNG is here to stay.”

This year’s 18-stop, 4,825-mile journey began outside of Long Beach, CA, on Monday, June 5, and included 16 stops and rally events before concluding in the District of Columbia on Friday, June 16.

The following organizations are additional sponsors of this year’s Road Rally:

Agility Fuel Solutions, ampCNG, ANGI Energy Systems, Arkansas Clean Cities Coalition, Arkansas Oklahoma Gas Corp, Atlanta Gas Light, Blue Bird Corporation, Blue Energy Fuels, Carolinas Public Gas Association, CenterPoint Energy, City of Richmond – Dept of Public Utilities, City of Tulsa CNG, Clean Energy Fuels Corp, Clean Fuels Michigan, Clean N’ Green Fuel, CNG Cylinders International, Cummins Westport Inc, DeKalb County, Georgia (Metro Atlanta area), DTE Energy, East Tennessee Clean Fuels, EVO CNG, Gibson County Utility District, Greater Dickson Gas Authority, Greater Houston Natural Gas Vehicle Alliance, Greater Indiana Clean Cities Coalition, Houston Distributing Company, Knoxville Utilities Board, Middle-West TN Clean Fuels, Municipal Gas Authority of Georgia, National Truck Equipment Association (NTEA), Norwich Clean Cities, Okaloosa Gas District, Oklahoma One-Call, One Gas, Ozinga Energy, Palmetto State Clean Fuels Coalition, Piedmont Natural Gas, Precision Fitting and Gauge/Precision CNG, Sevier County Utility District, Sheehy Mail Contractors, Inc, South Jersey Gas Company, Southern California Gas Company – a Sempra Company, Southwest Gas Corporation, Staubli Corp, TECO Energy, Tennessee Gas Association, Trillium CNG, TruStar Energy, Tulsa Area Clean Cities, Tulsa Gas Technologies, Inc, UGI Utilities, Inc, U.S. Venture/GAIN Clean Fuel, Virginia Clean Cities, Virginia Natural Gas – a Southern Company, WEH Technologies Inc, and Worthington Cylinders.