Trumbull officials planning for compressed-natural-gas feasibility study

By Ed Runyan | June 12, 2014 at 12:00a.m.

WARREN

Representatives with Clean Fuels Ohio of Columbus talked Wednesday about the feasibility study it will do this summer for several governments interested in converting gas and diesel vehicles to compressed natural gas.

Trumbull County commissioners are expected to award a contract of $67,973 to Clean Fuels Ohio today to conduct the study, which will be possible because of a $100,000 grant acquired by the county engineer’s office from the Ohio Development Services Agency’s Local Government Innovation Fund.

The partners are the commissioners, Engineer Randy Smith, the townships of Howland and Weathersfield and the village of Newton Falls.

Andrew Conley, program director for Clean Fuels Ohio, said personnel will evaluate fleet vehicles to determine what can be converted to CNG and provide a good return on the investment.

Marathon Technical Services will look at technical information to determine the best location for construction of a CNG station, to be centrally located to the public and private entities.

Personnel would evaluate the cost to modify garages where such vehicles are kept since CNG is a lighter-than-air fuel, so it has to be handled differently.

The entities participating will need to provide a list of the possible vehicles that would be involved, including what time of day they typically take on fuel.

It makes sense to convert larger vehicles, newer vehicles and those that receive the most use to CNG tanks and equipment since the up-front cost of conversion is one of the largest expenses, Conley said.

There are various factors to consider regarding converting buses, garbage trucks and other kinds of trucks and cars.

Police departments frequently don’t want to give up the storage space in the car’s trunk, so that hinders police-car conversion, but police sport utility vehicles can be converted more easily, he said.

A CNG fueling station is being constructed at Mr. Fuel on Salt Springs Road in Weathersfield and another one at Dearing Compressor in Boardman.