New Compressed Natural Gas Filling Station Opens in Pittsburgh – How Does $1.85 per Gallon (Gas Equivalent) Sound?
Giant Eagle, a grocery and convenience store chain with 222 stores in western PA, Ohio and West Virginia, has just opened the first of three compressed natural gas (CNG) filling stations in the Pittsburgh area. The company is planning to replace its entire truck fleet (over 200 trucks) with CNG trucks in the coming years. The best part: How does paying $1.85 a gasoline-equivalent gallon grab you? Yes, CNG vehicles cost more (and right now only Honda in the U.S. makes one), but as the infrastructure is built, more auto manufacturers are likely to start making CNG vehicles.
Pittsburgh City Councilman and Council President Doug Shields (Democrat-District 5) was the driving force behind legislation passed late last year that banned drilling for Marcellus Shale gas inside city limits. Energy companies hold leases on 362 acres, or 1 percent, of land in the city proper. Shields worked with the environmentalist and anti-drilling law firm Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund to craft that legislation.