CHEYENNE -- Annette Spitsbergen, the manager of the state's motor pool, is scheduled to attend a seminar August 17 in Riverton on natural gas vehicle fleets.

The 8 a.m. to noon seminar at the Riverton Holiday Inn convention center is sponsored by Encana Natural Gas Co., which, for obvious reasons. is pushing for natural gas vehicles.

Spitsbergen will be involved with the pilot program authorized by the Legislature last winter.

The lawmakers allocated $200,000 for the Department of Transportation and the Department of Administration and Information, which oversees the motor pool, to test 10 natural gas vehicles each.

The departments can either retrofit existing vehicles or buy new ones that can run on natural gas alone or in combination with gasoline.

The state recently contracted with a northern Colorado firm to run the conversion program.

According to the Encana announcement the seminar will feature discussions on how to start a successful fleet conversion program and the environmental and cost saving benefits.

Also to be discussed is the upcoming public natural gas filing station in Riverton at the Pit Stop.

Wyoming currently has only 3 compressed gas filing stations open to the public at Cheyenne, Evanston and Rock Springs


Buck