City of Covington Joins CNG CLub!

The City of Covington has joined a growing list of innovative municipalities around the country that are transitioning their own fleets to run on compressed natural gas (CNG) while also building the necessary fueling infrastructure for use by private companies.  In an effort to act as a torchbearer for many other Georgia municipalities, the City has approved the construction of a $1.6 million public access CNG fueling facility.  The city council voted unanimously to award the contract to construct this facility to Georgia-based American Fueling Systems (AFS), which currently owns and operates the largest public CNG station in the state of Georgia.

The City of Covington’s facility will be the first public access CNG facility in Georgia that is owned by a city.  It will be open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and will be able to fuel 4 vehicles simultaneously at a rate of 9-11 gallons per minute.  Located off of Exit 92 at the intersection of City Pond and Alcovy Roads, it will offer easy access to Interstate 20 and therefore will be strategically located to incentivize more private fleets to transition to CNG, as well.  This facility will be designed to offer multiple alternative fuels including CNG upon opening, with the possibility of propane (LPG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the future.   

"We are extremely proud to be partners with a forward-thinking municipality such as the City of Covington.  The City conducted exhaustive due diligence, and it clearly understands that expanding the use of clean, affordable natural gas is good for the city as well as the surrounding communities.” said Rahim Charania, Chief Executive Officer of AFS. 

This project has fervent support from all levels at the City of Covington.  Chris Smith, a member of the City Council and long-time champion of this initiative, said, “I am very proud of this project.  It will continue to put Covington on the map as a progressive community with its future in hand.”  Finally, Mayor Ronnie Johnston had this to say: “The CNG station is a great example of the leadership and vision that is found within our city.  Covington…will likely be used as a model for similar facilities throughout the state.  We believe the station will also have a very positive impact on our economic development goals.” 

The City of Covington is a member of the non-profit, natural gas joint action agency – the Municipal Gas Authority of Georgia (MGAG).  MGAG provides natural gas and associated services for 77 municipally-owned natural gas systems, most of which are in Georgia.  MGAG has been very progressive in its promotion of natural gas as an alterative fuel, and is in conversations with many other member cities in Georgia that are actively discussing the construction of their own CNG stations.  Arthur Corbin, President and CEO of MGAG, believes that “the municipally-owned natural gas system is strategically situated to help advance the NGV market.  One of the major barriers in the market is the lack of public access fueling stations.  As fleet operators as well as natural gas providers, communities with locally owned gas systems can make investments in fueling stations…and expand the use of their natural gas systems through additional gas sales in the transportation sector.”

AFS will break ground in the Fall with the intent of opening the facility in early 2014.  In the past several years, Georgia has seen its number of public access alternative fueling stations increase exponentially.  With the City of Covington now joining the ranks, the future of CNG and other alternative fuels in the Southeast is looking very bright.

American Fueling Systems