SUNBURY — SEDA-Council of Governments suggested the city try to build a conference center in order to bring more traffic to “Sunbury — The New City,” but Mayor David Persing has a different vision — one built on the idea of going green.
Efforts to open a natural-gas station in the city are at the top of the list, Persing said of the projected North Fourth Street location.
Persing pictures the filling station in the parking lot in front of the old Runnerless Knits building, which has been vacant for quite some time, he said.
“That is a great place to develop,” Persing said. “It is a big building, and we can just do a lot in that location.”
He is thrilled about the possibility of Sunbury leading the way into the future.
“We want to be the first city in Pennsylvania where you can drive your car up, no matter how you’re fueling it, and leave with a full tank,” he said.
Compressed natural gas is a clean-burning, domestically produced fuel that can generate significantly fewer emissions than diesel. CNG is compressed to 2,400 to 3,600 pounds per square inch and stored on board a vehicle in specially designed and constructed cylinders. Vehicles that run on CNG have engines and fuel systems that are optimized for gaseous fuel use. Heavy-duty fleets using CNG generally have constructed their own refueling stations; public and semi-public CNG stations are available in fewer than two dozen locations in Pennsylvania, mostly in urban areas.
Twenty-two of them are located in Pennsylvania, with four in Pittsburgh and three in Philadelphia. The closest station is in Wilkes-Barre.
According to CNG Prices.com (www.cngprices.com), natural gas prices ranged from $1.99 to $2.30. There are no stations listed for the Central Susquehanna Valley. Gasoline prices at Valley stations are running at least $3.63 a gallon.
According to yahoo.com. CNG cars get basically the same miles per gallon as gasoline-powered cars get per gallon.
There also are do-it-yourself kits on the market that range from $1,450 to $1,900 for the engine conversion and between $2,200 and $3,000 for the fuel tank. The price depends on how large the engine and vehicle that is being converted are. Most prices do not include installation.
A complete conversion kit will cost nearly $5,000.
“I think doing that is a waste of money,” Persing said. “I think we should just use that money and buy new ones when the time comes.”
Persing also doesn’t want Sunbury to take a backseat to any other city, he said.
“The Marcellus Shale industry in Pennsylvania will lead the nation in the near future, and I don’t want Sunbury to get behind in our pursuit to establish this city as a running green community,” Persing said. “Our public works and police departments are actively pursuing vehicles for our future, and now is the time for us to develop a strategy.”
There are eight government-run transit systems in Pennsylvania that use CNG, and one of those is Rabbittransit, of York County, which was hired by Northumberland County this summer to operate the county’s transportation system.
Rabitttransit operates a CNG refueling station and operates two CNG transit buses, with plans to add more. Transit officials did not return call seeking comment about potential expansion of the use of compressed natural gas vehicles in Northumberland County.
Persing said he is not aware of any vehicles in the Valley running on natural gas.
“As far as I know there are none,” Persing said. “Where would they fill up?”
Several Pennsylvania transit system are using CNG to reduce emissions and energy dependence funded by the state Department of Environmental Protection’s Alternative Fuel Incentive Grant Program.
The Centre Area Transportation Authority operates about 50 buses in State College, including on the Penn State campus. Almost all of its buses run on compressed natural gas, refueled at a station operated by CATA and supplied by Columbia Gas. This station also supplies a nearby UniMart, making natural gas refueling available to the public.
— Email comments to fscarcella@dailyitem.com. Editor John Finnerty contributed to this report.
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