By Margaret Newkirk

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Atlanta Gas Light wants to spend about $10 million to seed a market in Georgia for cars and trucks fueled by natural gas and begin weaning the state from gasoline.

In a Tuesday filing, AGL said a number of businesses and government bodies have expressed interest in vehicles powered by natural gas. But the cost of the vehicles and the lack of an easy way to fill them up is holding the market back, the company said.

New federal incentives are beginning to address the first barrier.

AGL wants to begin addressing the second by building five to eight compressed natural gas fueling stations in metro Atlanta, using a fund normally deployed to extend pipelines to businesses and homes.

Collected from one of the company's unregulated affiliates and industry, the fund has a surplus.

The gas pipeline company made its filing partly in response to a request from state Public Service Commissioner Doug Everett, who cheered AGL in a written statement.

"The Peach State is the first in the country to build a nuclear reactor in over thirty years," he said. "And we can be the first state in the southeast to build a viable CNG vehicle network that will attract investment in the market and promote CNG vehicle purchases."

Everett said the move will cut dependence on foreign oil.

The first stations would initially serve larger fleets but will eventually open to the public. AGL won’t build a station until customers have agreed to use 20 percent of its output, the filing said.

The company listed a number of parties it said were interested. They include AT&T, Emory University, Republic Waste, UPS, Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, the cities of Alpharetta and Atlanta, and Cobb and DeKalb counties.

Just as in the larger natural gas market, retail marketers would sell the gas and AGL would earn its money from marketers. Any profits would go toward building new fueling stations, the company said.

The new stations would not cost current customers, company president Suzanne Sitherwood said in a statement.

"Constructing and operating CNG refueling stations can provide job growth in our state's economy and offer public access to a cheap and environmentally friendly fuel source," she said.

Buck