Bossier City eyes money for natural-gas fleet conversion
By Drew Pierson • dpierson@gannett.com • July 22, 2009

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Bossier City took another step Tuesday toward converting its vehicles to run on natural gas after Bossier City attorney Jimmy Hall told council members Louisiana just received millions of dollars in stimulus money for that purpose.



"I think our timing has been perfect," Hall said. "This is a sizable chunk of money."

Bossier City wants to install three natural gas pumps that some or all of its fleet could use. Some of the pumps also would be available for public use should consumers have natural gas-fueled vehicles. The city wants to convert as many of its vehicles as it can to natural gas because the fuel burns cleaner. Bossier City has been warned by the Environmental Protection Agency that it may face penalties next year for its smoggy air.

Compressed natural gas also can be cheaper than gasoline. The average gallon-equivalent of compressed natural gas costs about a third less than a gallon of gasoline.

Louisiana learned Tuesday it would receive about $10 million for fleet-conversion like the effort Bossier City is undertaking, Hall said.

The consultant Bossier City hired to help streamline the process has been making good progress identifying funding sources besides the stimulus money, the city attorney said. Bossier City is spending $24,000 for Public Solutions Group, of Grapevine, Texas, to implement the plan.

The effort to convert to natural gas also appears to be spreading locally. Hall said he soon will meet with Bossier Parish and Bossier school officials to discuss their efforts to convert government vehicles and school buses. In March, Shreveport announced plans to get some natural gas-fueld buses and construct a fueling station at the SporTran office. Bossier City still is determining a timetable for implementing its program. Police cars are not included in its conversion plans.


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