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dPGjr'? kz .3 <br />Report of the CNG Siting Staff Work Group <br />January 24, 2005 <br />In June 2004, the Chairs of the Board of County Commissioners and the Orange <br />County Board of Education asked a work group of staff members from the <br />County, Orange County Schools (OCS), and NCDOT to develop <br />recommendations for a planned compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling station <br />funded in part by a grant in 2004. <br />Specifically, the Work Group was asked to: <br />1. Investigate and visit other CNG fueling stations in the area, <br />2. Explore potential sites in the Hillsborough area owned by the County, <br />OCS and NCDOT, and <br />3. Make a recommendation on a location for siting of this facility <br />Background <br />Alternative fuel vehicle (AFV) technology has become an important new <br />component of transportation in the last decade. The worsening of air quality, <br />increases in petroleum-based fuel costs, questions about future availability and <br />domestic supply, and other environmental issues related to the use of fossil fuel <br />vehicles led many local governments and private employers to evaluate, <br />purchase and use AFV technology in other parts of the County and here in North <br />Carolina. <br />Orange County has been interested in alternative fuels and low emission <br />vehicles for several years. In 1999, a work group was formed to examine the <br />status of alternative fuel and low emission vehicle technology and develop <br />recommendations on ways to begin introducing this into the County vehicle fleet. <br />This work group, the Alternative Fuel and Low Emission Vehicle (AFLEV) Work <br />Group, presented recommendations in the spring of 2000 that generally <br />suggested the County begin pursuing both CNG and electric vehicles and <br />infrastructure, through a State grant program that existed at the time. In late <br />2000, the County did in fact submit the grant application, for the cost differential <br />on purchase of 4 vehicles and a CNG station. However, just as grants were <br />being considered in 2001, the State budget crisis hit and funding for the grant <br />program was held back and eventually taken away. <br />During the next two years, County staff worked to purchase low-emission <br />vehicles and several alternative-fuel capable vehicles where possible (an ethanol <br />fuel known as E85, which is 85% ethanol). At this time 21 County vehicles qualify <br />as low-emission vehicles and 11 County vehicles are E85-compatible. However, <br />none of the vehicles have used E85 fuel - all have and continue to run on utilize <br />gasoline.