OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Gov. Brad Henry signed legislation Monday to encourage Oklahoma motorists to fuel their cars and trucks with compressed natural gas.

The bill is the last of three energy-related bills passed by the 2009 Legislature to be signed into law that House Speaker Chris Benge, R-Tulsa, said will help Oklahoma remain at the front of the national debate over alternative energy.

"Our state has a long-standing energy history in this country, and those dynamics will only continue with legislation like this," Benge said in a statement. "These bills have positioned our state to play a vital role in producing domestic energy sources that will spur economic development locally, all while helping to boost our country's economic and national security.

"Oklahoma must not only play a role in developing American energy independence, but we must lead the way," Benge said.

The measure signed Monday will help expand the number of vehicles in the state running on alternative fuels like compressed natural gas and also help expand the number of publicly available fueling stations across the state.

The bill would allow the Department of Central Services to provide fleet services to schools, county and municipal governments and provide public access to alternative fueling infrastructure in underserved areas unless a private provider locates within five miles.

The "State Fleet Management Fund" will be amended to allow money from the fund to be used to build alternative fueling stations or to acquire alternative fuel vehicles for use by state agencies or for lease to political subdivisions. Money from lease payments would be deposited into the fund.

The allowable loan amount for a fill station will increase to $300,000, and a current cap of $10,000 per vehicle conversion will remain intact.

The bill also would repeal cost-prohibitive California Air Resources Board emission limits and defer to emissions standards of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. That will make conversions easier and less expensive while still keep federal standards in place on conversion kits.

Supporters of CNG-powered vehicles say natural gas is the cleanest burning fuel in the world, and 97 percent of the U.S. supply of natural gas is produced in North America.

There are 8 million natural gas vehicles in the world but very few in the U.S. Of the 234.6 million vehicles traveling on American roads, just 95,000, or 0.1 percent, are natural gas vehicles.

In Argentina there are 1.5 million natural gas vehicles, and both Pakistan and Iran have nearly a quarter of their vehicles running on natural gas.

The European Union has mandated that 20 percent of all their vehicles run on natural gas by 2020, and they are set to beat that timeline. In 1997, Europe had about 400 CNG fueling stations. By 2006, that number had jumped to 2,105, or an increase of over 400 percent.

Henry previously signed a bill extending an existing tax credit on the purchase of a qualified clean-burning motor vehicle for five years for compressed and liquefied natural gas and electric cars. The credit is equal to 50 percent of the cost of converting vehicles to operate on a qualified fuel, as well as those originally equipped to do so.

Another bill previously signed would make companies that support and service wind industry energy companies eligible for the state's Quality Jobs Act to attract them to Oklahoma.

Buck