Attention Utah CNG drivers!

Tomorrow the state legislature is trying to INCREASE CNG TAX up to 21 cents per gallon and yearly registration tax up to $50 per year.

Call your State Senator and Congressman (http://le.utah.gov/GIS/findDistrict.jsp) and say NO too:
House Bill 271
House Bill 406
Senate Bill 160
Senate Bill 231

Call TODAY as the vote is this Friday!

* According to the Utah Tax Commission there are less than 10,000 natural gas vehicles registered in the state out of 1,400,000 total. Why are you picking on the less than 1% of us who are doing the right thing for air quality?

* Owning and driving clean fuel vehicles requires effort. Stations are few and far between. And, those who drive dedicated CNG vehicles are limited in driving far outside of Utah. But it's worth it for support of clean air and use of domestic natural gas fuel. If you tax us up to gasoline rates why bother?

* Natural gas vehicles command high resale values so we already pay more in sales taxes for these vehicles each time they are bought and sold.

Volkswagen is considering selling CNG vehicles in the US. They already have the Touran minivan and Passat sedan available with the CNG option (the call it EcoFuel) in Europe. Hopefully they could make the transition to the US market without too much difficulty. 

http://www.ngvjournal.com/en/home/item/13361

VW's EcoFuel page (translated from German):http://bit.ly/19LPos6

Neat German video showing the Passat EcoFuel

Natural Gas Fueling to expand along I-84 and I-15

BLU Fuels (operator of the CNG/LNG station at the 21st South Flying J in Salt Lake) is teaming with Kenworth and PACCAR Leasing Company (PacLease) to make LNG trucks available to operators and provide infrastructure for fueling.  New stations are being built along I-84 and I-15.
I expect the stations to be LNG only at first but able to add CNG fueling capability in the future.

LNG truck leasing to expand

Chevrolet working on a CNG Impala?

A few late model CNG Impalas have been spotted testing in Colorado. Hopefully this is a good sign that a factory produced CNG Impala is on the way in the next year or two. It seems like Chevrolet finally had the CNG system figured out with the 2003-4 Cavaliers, but then stopped making them. Hopefully Chevy can do the CNG Impala right.
Read the full article and see more pictures here: http://www.autoblog.com/2013/05/20/is-chevrolet-readying-a-cng-powered-impala/

Another CNG Station Opens in Ogden

From Questar's CNG Twitter Feed:
Questar Gas opens new CNG station in Ogden, UT, on Weber State University campus (4760 Old Post Rd), south of the arena. Price is $1.49/gal

Clean Energy is opening LNG Stations Nationwide

Clean Energy is partnering with Pilot-Flying J to make LNG (liquified natural gas) available along key interstate corridors nationwide. This is exciting new for CNG drivers because wherever LNG is sold, CNG should also be available. Unfortunately, Clean Energy has not yet confirmed that the LNG stations will also dispense CNG. The network will include two stations in Utah. As previously mentioned in this blog, one LNG station is already open in Salt Lake City. Another one is planned for Beaver, UT. If the expanded network of LNG stations also dispense CNG it will make it easier to travel cross country in your CNG vehicle.

Read the full press release here. (.pdf)

From USGasVehicles.com

Boise CNG Stations now open

After more than a year of waiting, two CNG stations in the Boise area have officially opened to the public.

The stations are located at:
11101 W Executive Dr.
Boise, ID

3015 East Comstock Ave.
Nampa, ID


Read more about the stations from the Idaho Statesman