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ORANGE COUNTY <br />BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS <br />ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT <br />Meeting Date: February 1, 2005 <br />Action Agenda <br />Item No. -Q <br />SUBJECT: Siting Recommendations - CNG Joint Staff Work Group <br />DEPARTMENT: Environment and Resource <br />Conservation, Purchasing, <br />Public Works <br />PUBLIC HEARING: (Y/N) No <br />ATTACHMENT(S): <br />1) Joint Staff Work Group Report <br />2) CNG Technology Information <br />INFORMATION CONTACT: <br />David Stancil, 245-2590 <br />Pam Jones, 245-2650 <br />Donna Dean, 245-2150 <br />Wilbert McAdoo, 245-2625 <br />TELEPHONE NUMBERS: <br />Hillsborough 732-8181 <br />Chapel Hill 968-4501 <br />Durham 688-7331 <br />Mebane 336-227-2031 <br />PURPOSE: To receive a report from a work group of County, Orange County Schools <br />(OCS) and NCDOT staff regarding siting of the County's planned Compressed Natural Gas <br />(CNG) alternative fuel system for vehicles. <br />BACKGROUND: In April of this year, the Board asked staff to submit a grant application to <br />the Triangle Clean Cities Coalition (under the auspices of the Triangle J Council of <br />Governments) for funding assistance in the construction of a CNG station in conjunction with <br />the Orange County Schools. In July, the County was notified that it had been awarded a <br />grant in the maximum amount of $25,000 for this project. <br />The concept of introducing CNG alternative fuels technology into the County vehicle fleet has <br />been discussed for several years, dating back to the Alternative Fuel and Low Emission <br />Vehicle report of April 2000. In 2001, the County submitted a grant proposal to the NC <br />Mobile Source Emissions Reduction Grant program (run by the NC Division of Air Quality) for <br />C,NG and electric vehicles and infrastructure, but the State budget crisis precluded grants <br />from being awarded. During the last several years, County staff has worked to purchase low- <br />emission vehicles and several alternative-fuel capable vehicles (ethanol or E85, though none <br />currently run on this fuel).