In light of the positive momentum in expanding compressed
natural gas (CNG) fueling for commercial vehicles, New Jersey
Natural Gas (NJNG) will be providing natural gas service to Morris
County’s first CNG filling station. To that end, Blue Diamond
Disposal, a Mount Arlington solid waste and recycling company,
recently awarded Clean Energy Fuels Corporation the contract to
build, operate and maintain Morris County’s first CNG filling
station, and NJNG will provide the distribution infrastructure to
support the delivery of natural gas to the filling station.
“During the past year, our customers have expressed significant
interest in natural gas vehicles. With abundant supplies of natural
gas available at competitive prices, natural gas vehicles offer an
economic and environmental solution for reducing our nation’s
dependence on foreign energy sources,” says Thomas Massaro, vice
president of marketing and business intelligence at New Jersey
Natural Gas.
“Our decision to adopt natural gas transportation solutions will
generate a host of financial advantages for Blue Diamond, including
the immediate reduction in fuel costs and streamlined maintenance
packages – all while positively benefitting the environment,”
stresses John Shortino Jr., president of Blue Diamond Disposal.
New Jersey Clean Cities Coalition (NJCCC) provided Blue Diamond
with a $500,000 Department of Energy (DOE) grant to cover the
incremental costs associated with purchasing CNG refuse collection
trucks rather than replacing them with diesel-powered vehicles. The
NJCCC grant provided Blue Diamond the opportunity to add 10 CNG
trucks to its fleet. And Blue Diamond purchased an additional seven
CNG trucks as part of its expansion program to CNG vehicles. The
new CNG trucks are part of Blue Diamond’s long-term initiative to
convert its entire fleet of 60 recycling and waste collection
trucks to CNG-powered vehicles. This project is one of several
across New Jersey that is being partially funded by the NJCCC as
part of a $15 million DOE grant under the American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act.
NJNG is an original supporter of NJCCC, which aims to decrease
petroleum usage of vehicles by expanding the markets for
alternative fuel and advanced technology vehicles.
“We are pleased to work with Blue Diamond, NJCCC and NJNG to
better utilize natural gas vehicles to enhance our nation’s
security, improve air quality and provide a more affordable source
of transportation fuel,” states Peter Grace, senior vice president
of sales and finance at Clean Energy Fuels Corporation. “This
advances our program to support the solid waste sector in New
Jersey where we have already built and are operating natural gas
fueling stations in Trenton, Egg Harbor Township and Camden, as
well as at Newark International Airport. There are two more
underway in Atlantic City and Newark.”
Massaro points out that with thousands of refuse collection
trucks on the road in New Jersey, there’s significant opportunity
for NJNG to work with waste collection companies and other
commercial entities to adopt cleaner natural gas fuel for economic
and environmental reasons.
“Transitioning to a cleaner alternative fuel source demonstrates
that we are listening to our customers to minimize the
environmental impact from transportation,” Shortino says. The
volatility of petroleum and diesel prices has put tremendous
pressure on the commercial sector, with diesel hovering at $4 per
gallon* compared to a CNG-gallon-equivalent of $2**. “Moreover,
this initial transition to CNG-powered trucks will contribute to
our long-term cost savings and benefit our efforts to convert Blue
Diamond’s entire fleet to natural gas-fueled vehicles,” Shortino
adds.
“Because of continued interest from both the public and private
sectors to convert their fleets to more environmentally-friendly,
less expensive and domestically produced fuels, we hope to
encourage the expansion of supporting infrastructure that would
accommodate the increased reliance on alternative fueled vehicles
throughout the state,” says Chuck Feinberg, chairman of New Jersey
Clean Cities Coalition.
Slated to open sometime in fall 2011, the new fueling facility
will be equipped with time-fill posts and designed to include
future expansion, including fast-fill dispensers. The
station will support Blue Diamond’s initial deployment of 17 CNG
trucks and the gradual transition of 100 percent of its
diesel-powered refuse collection trucks to clean-burning natural
gas power.
Source: *U.S. Energy Information Administration, **
CNGprices.com
About New Jersey Natural
Gas
New Jersey Natural Gas is the principal subsidiary of New Jersey
Resources, a Fortune 1000 company, that provides safe and reliable
natural gas and renewable energy services, including
transportation, distribution and asset management in states from
the Gulf Coast to the New England regions, including the
Mid-Continent region, the West Coast and Canada, while investing in
and maintaining an extensive infrastructure to support future
growth. With over $2.5 billion in annual revenues, NJR safely and
reliably operates and maintains 6,800 miles of natural gas
transportation and distribution infrastructure to serve nearly half
a million customers; develops and manages a diverse portfolio of
1.54 Bcf/day of firm transportation and over 59 Bcf of firm storage
capacity; offers low carbon solutions of clean energy through its
commercial and residential solar programs and provides appliance
installation, repair and contract service to nearly 150,000 homes
and businesses. Additionally, NJR holds investments in midstream
assets through equity partnerships including Steckman Ridge and
Iroquois. Through Conserve to Preserve®, NJR is helping customers
save energy and money by promoting conservation and encouraging
efficiency. For more information about NJR, visit
www.njliving.com.
About Blue Diamond
Disposal
Blue Diamond Disposal is a trash and recycling collection
company, licensed in all 21 counties in New Jersey with operational
facilities located both in Mount Arlington (Morris County) and
Woodbine (Cape May County). Blue Diamond provides residential
service to over 100,000 households and thousands of commercial and
industrial customers throughout the state. For more information go
to www.bluediamonddisposal.com.
About Clean Energy Fuels
Corp.
Clean Energy (NASDAQ: CLNE) (www.cleanenergyfuels.com) is the
largest provider of natural gas fuel for transportation in North
America and a global leader in the expanding natural gas vehicle
market. It has operations in CNG and LNG vehicle fueling,
construction and operation of CNG and LNG fueling stations,
biomethane production, vehicle conversion and compressor
technology. Clean Energy fuels over 22,700 vehicles at 238
strategic locations across the United States and Canada with a
broad customer base in the refuse, transit, trucking, shuttle,
taxi, airport and municipal fleet markets.
www.cleanenergyfuels.com
About New Jersey Clean Cities
Coalition
The NJ Clean Cities Coalition (NJCCC), is a tax-exempt 501(c)3
nonprofit organization incorporated in the state of New Jersey for
the promotion of the development and use of alternative fuels,
alternative fuels vehicles, and the appropriate related
infrastructure. As a designated Coalition within the U.S.
Department of Energy’s Clean Cities Program, the NJ Clean Cities
Coalition is one of approximately 90 similar entities across the
US, and the only one in New Jersey.www.njcleancities.org
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