Montgomery County Opens CNG Fueling Site for Public Use

Montgomery County’s Department of General Services (DGS), Division of Fleet Management Services, recently opened its second compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling station at the David F. Bone Equipment Maintenance and Transit Operations Center (EMTOC) located at 17000 Crabbs Branch Way in Rockville, Maryland.

The new site offers both CNG and E85 fuel and is open to the public year-round, 24 hours-a-day and accepts all major credit cards.

This project is tied to a larger green fleet initiative that DGS has rolled out over the last year.  The CNG site is the only publicly accessible fueling site in a 40-mile radius in the Washington area and will be used to fill the County fleet and contracted CNG refuse trucks, as well as fleets of local municipalities and the federal government that need access to CNG.  Less than a month ago, the county opened the new transit bus CNG site at EMTOC.  Both fueling stations help the county displace more than one million gallons of diesel fuel a year and represent a significant reduction in the county’s carbon footprint.

“Incorporating clean fuels into our public transit, safety and administrative fleets is critical to healthy and sustainable communities as well as an effective and efficient transportation network,” said County Executive Isiah Leggett.  “We are happy to make this facility available to all County residents.”

“Last fall we deployed 16 level II electric vehicle (EV) charging stations in county-owned facilities,” said DGS Director David Dise.  “Additionally, we replaced 15 gasoline sedans with five battery/electric vehicles and 10 plug-in hybrid sedans that have reduced our gasoline consumption by over 1,000 gallons so far.  The CNG and EV infrastructure are integral parts of the County’s ongoing commitment to a cleaner, more fuel efficient fleet.”

Through these and other green fleet initiatives, the county has made significant progress in reducing petroleum consumption by more than eight percent over the last two years, and increasing its use of clean alternative fuels.  The county was recognized by the state in 2014 as a “Maryland Smart Energy Community.”  As part of the process, the county committed to a 20 percent reduction of its petroleum use over the next five years. Building on this momentum, the county has plans to expand its electric vehicle charging station network to other County facilities such as libraries and recreation centers in 2015, which will include a direct current fast charging station in the Rockville core.