The U.S. Department of Transportation recently announced that HART will receive a multimillion dollar grant to fund a Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) fueling station.
The first step for HART towards transitioning vans and buses to
CNG from diesel, the $2.3 million grant will cover costs for the construction of the fueling station itself, as well as any associated modifications necessary to the existing
HART maintenance facility at 4305 E. 21st Ave. in Tampa.
“This is an important long-range, cost-saving measure for HART and a very important green step for this community,” says HART Public Information Officer Marcia Mejia.
Natural gas is a clear, odorless and non-corrosive gaseous mixture of hydro-carbons, showing an average reduction in the exhaust emissions of carbon monoxide by 70 percent, non-methane organic gas by 87 percent, nitrogen oxides by 87 percent and carbon dioxide by almost 20 percent below gas-powered vehicles.
“As HART plans how it is going to purchase and use fuel in the future, we must address multiple concerns such as compliance with clean-air mandates, controlling fuel costs and reducing the dependence on imported oil,” says Mejia. “At this time, natural gas costs about 25 percent less than diesel and is available domestically.”
Currently, the HART maintenance facility is undergoing a
$4.6 million renovation project apart from the station. The preliminary project timeline for the $2.3 million CNG fueling station includes design and construction through 2012 with an operational fueling station by 2013.
HART is one of 46 innovative clean-fuel transit projects nationwide sharing $112 million in funding from the
Clean Fuels and the
Transit Investment in Greenhouse Gas and Energy Reduction grant programs.
Writer:
Alexis Quinn Chamberlain
Source: Marcia Mejia,
HART
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