Colorado Springs Utilities (CSU) is celebrating the opening of its second compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling station at the Pinkerton Service Center, located at 7710 Durant Dr., Colorado Springs, Colo.
CSU received a $402,412 grant from the Department of Local Affairs (DOLA) for the construction of the CNG fueling station. The DOLA grant supplemented a $500,000 Colorado Energy Office grant received in September 2014. The grant funds are derived from state severance taxes and federal mineral lease royalties paid to the state by Colorado’s energy and mineral industry.
The first station, located next to the CSU East Service Center (ESC) at 706 Tia Juana St., re-opened in 2014. CSU also received a $42,000 grant for the purchase of six CNG-fueled trucks.
Eleven companies – including School District 20, El Paso County and the Colorado Division of Wildlife – support the Pinkerton station.
“There’s a need for additional fueling stations,” says Mike Allison, CSU’s Pinkerton CNG fueling station construction project manager. “We’ve witnessed sales grow from 300 gallons in 2014 to 2,736 gallons this year at the ESC station.”
The fueling station will accommodate up to Class 8 trucks (including tractor-trailers), service vehicles and passenger cars. It will also help to fill a void of publicly available CNG fueling stations along the I-25 corridor in southern Colorado. The station will be open 24/7, features fast-fill dispensers and fuel hoses, and accepts all major credit cards and fleet fueling cards.
