Montgomery County, Md., recently opened its second compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling station. The new site offers CNG and E-85 fuel to fleet and public drivers.

The CNG site is the only publicly accessible fueling site in a 40-mile radius in the Washington, D.C., 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.

This project is tied to a larger green fleet initiative that Department of General Services (DGS) rolled out over the last year. About a month ago, the county opened the new transit bus CNG site. The fueling stations are expected to help the county replace more than one million gallons of diesel fuel per year.

“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 2 electric vehicle (EV) charging stations in county-owned facilities,” said David Dise, director of DGS. “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 8% over the last two years, and increasing its use of clean alternative fuels. 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.