PG&E; to Open First Natural Gas Station for Public in Bay Area

In an effort to encourage use of cleaner automobile fuels in smoggy California, Pacific Gas & Electric plans today to open the state’s first compressed natural gas refueling station with public access.

The “gas” station, at the giant utility’s service center in the East Bay city of Concord, is expected to supply fuel primarily for fleet vehicles. It will be open 24 hours a day, with customers using a card key to gain access. The station will feature a drive-up island where natural gas will be pumped into tanks in the vehicles much as gasoline is.

Norm Bryan, the PG&E; vice president heading the utility’s alternative fuel program, said the station will be the first of seven that PG&E; will open to the public this year. The others will be in Bakersfield, Hayward, San Jose, San Rafael and Sacramento. There will be two in Sacramento.

PG&E; is taking the lead on providing public access, Bryan said, “to give the public experience” using the fuel so that the benefits will become apparent. Experts say the fuel costs about 30% less than gasoline, emits far fewer pollutants and cuts vehicle maintenance costs because motor oil and spark plugs need changing less frequently.

The station opens at a time lawmakers in Washington are embroiled in controversy about what measures to take and which fuels to use to clean up the nation’s increasingly filthy air. President Bush in June proposed a far-reaching plan to curb smog, acid rain and toxic emissions, but aspects of the plan involving “clean fuels” have met resistance in Congress.

PG&E; began experimenting with using natural gas to fuel its own service vehicles in 1973, according to Bryan. In 1986, it opened two CNG refueling stations to service 100 of its vehicles that had been converted to run on either natural gas or gasoline. Drivers of “dual-fuel” vehicles can easily switch from one power source to another while driving.

But PG&E;’s “big push” began late last year, Bryan said, as the clean air debate took center stage. “We began to realize that our fuel could provide significant environmental benefits,” he said.

The investment for PG&E; is significant. Each station costs $100,000 to $300,000. In addition, the company plans to convert an additional 100 vehicles to “dual fuel” this year. Such conversions generally cost $2,000 to $2,500 per vehicle.

Finding an adequate market for the fuel has not proven easy. Bryan said county agencies and private delivery fleets have expressed interest in converting fleets of trucks and buses, but so far only Fresno County has actually agreed to shift some vehicles--five to be exact.

To date, only 30,000 vehicles nationwide are equipped to run on natural gas. The number has barely budged the past couple of years because relatively stable oil and gasoline prices have dampened the enthusiasm for alternative fuels.

Part of the problem with natural gas has been a “chicken and egg” situation, according to Julie H. Stewart, a spokeswoman for the American Gas Assn., a utilities trade group in Washington. Because there are so few refueling stations, she said, manufacturers have not mounted a concerted effort to build vehicles that run on natural gas. Car makers, instead, have concentrated on cars that can run on methanol.

The Concord station is “really the beginning of what we hope will be a much more sophisticated infrastructure that will encourage conversion of fleets,” said Jeffrey Seisler, executive director of the Natural Gas Vehicle Coalition, a Washington lobbying organization. He added that most of the 275 CNG refueling stations nationwide are owned by companies or government agencies that use them strictly for their own vehicles.

Proponents of natural gas point to signs of progress. Amoco recently became the first major oil company to support the natural gas effort. It negotiated with Colorado utility officials to put in natural gas pumps at four stations in the Denver area. It also will put one on Capitol Hill.

Southern California Gas will soon begin temporary operation of a natural gas facility in Sunland to fuel 10 experimental RTD buses. In addition, the company has had discussions with Chevron and Unocal about opening natural gas pumps, “but we don’t have any plans ourselves” to open natural gas refueling stations, said Ralph Cohen, a spokesman for the utility.

Bill Sessa, a spokesman in Sacramento for the California Air Resources Board, viewed today’s opening of the PG&E; station in Concord as welcome news. The board recently proposed a plan to accelerate the shift to cars powered by cleaner fuels.

“It’s important to underscore that there are alternatives,” he said.