Shipment delays stall opening of LR’s 1st natural gas station

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/RICK MCFARLAND --02/17/14--  The Little Rock CNG (compressed natural gas) station, E. 6th and Ferry streets, which opens March 6.

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/RICK MCFARLAND --02/17/14-- The Little Rock CNG (compressed natural gas) station, E. 6th and Ferry streets, which opens March 6.

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Correction: The city of Little Rock is about to open a compressed natural gas station, but it will not be the first such station in the city. A Texaco station opened in the city in 1995 but later closed. A headline with this article incorrectly described the latest station as the city's first.

Shipment delays have pushed back the trial start of Little Rock’s compressed natural gas station to next week, but officials said Friday that they’ve set the official public opening date for March.

The city’s Fleet Services Department originally planned for its vehicles to begin using the station around the first of the year, and then after working out the kinks, it would be open for public use in February. But delays in receiving equipment caused both dates to be postponed,said Renee Tyler, Fleet Services special program coordinator.

“One of the issues with building this type of station is the equipment is manufactured, and our equipment was built to specifics for our station. We had delivery delays, which is not under our control. It literally pushed everything back like four to six weeks. We are finally in the stages of finishing everything up. We hope to start doing our testing of the equipment next week,” Tyler said Friday.

She’s anticipating that city workers will be able to fill up the limited number of city vehicles that operate on compressed natural gas - or CNG - at the station by Feb. 25. An opening celebration for the public is scheduled for 10 a.m. March 6 at the station, located at East Sixth and Ferry streets along an Interstate 30 access road in Little Rock.

The public will be charged about $1.50 per gallon of compressed natural gas. The fuel cost to the city and other public agencies that partner with the city will be between $1 and $1.15 per gallon.

“We’re thinking - especially since the weather has cleared up - we are anticipating everything will go smoothly and everything will be fine. Everybody in the city is excited. This has been such a great effort. Every department in the city has helped to make this station happen,” Tyler said.

The gasoline alternative offers cleaner, more environmentally friendly and less-expensive fuel, officials said. The station cost about $1.3 million to build. The city paid just more than $1 million of the cost, with grants paying for the rest.

City Manager Bruce Moore said the station is moving Little Rock toward becoming more environmentally conscious.

“The city is very excited about the upcoming opening of our first CNG station,” Moore said by email Friday. “Besides saving money on fuel, we are having a positive impact on the environment. I really envision the city expanding our efforts in this area in the future.”

Little Rock’s Fleet Services Department owns seven vehicles that operate on compressed natural gas, but there are plans to convert or buy as many as 14 more this year. Moore said it’s difficult to estimate how much the city will save on fuel cost with the new station.

The Little Rock facility is the seventh compressed natural gas station in the state - with the closest being the North Little Rock-owned station at 320 Curtis Sykes Drive. There are two in Conway, one in Damascus, one in Fort Smith and one in Jonesboro.

In 2013, the North Little Rock station sold 155,070 gallons of fuel - using a gasoline gallon equivalent formula. The station took in $229,485.34 - a net gain of $41,218.87.

But it’s not just cost savings that has Fleet Services Department Director Wendell Jones excited about the new venture.

The compressed natural gas station is the city’s way of reducing chemical emissions from vehicles within the city and reducing dependency on foreign fuel. Although it’ll only affect a small number of vehicles - there are only about 250,000 compressed natural gas-operated vehicles in the United States, according to General Electric - it’s one step closer to a more environmentally friendly world, Jones said earlier this year.

Information for this article was contributed by Jake Sandlin of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

Arkansas, Pages 9 on 02/18/2014