Naperville City Council approved the construction of a compressed natural gas fueling station.
Compressed natural gas or “CNG” is a cleaner energy source than gasoline. City staff has been considering transitioning part of its fleet to it for years.
“CNG is starting to become one of the new fuels,” said Councilman John Krummen. “It’s very forward thinking, so top shelf.”
Trillium Transportation Fuels entered the 10-year agreement with Naperville to bring the station to 1720 W. Jefferson Avenue, near the city’s Test Track.
The agreement states Trillium will be responsible for the costs of construction in return for the city’s CNG-functional fleet using the station.
But the city won’t be the only ones at the pump. Groot Industries and Ozinga, who operate in Naperville as waste management and concrete companies respectively, have agreed to use the station. It’s also available to the public 24 hours a day.
“It’s great to have a few partners step up and guarantee that they’ll use it with so many vehicles, one being our new trash hauler and Ozinga, which already uses some CNG trucks already,” said Councilman Paul Hinterlong. “And then we’ll get the school districts, hopefully to join in and the park district possibly, so it’s great. I’m glad to see this finally come through.”
City staff said this will provide savings for Naperville down the road while also having a positive environmental impact.
Naperville News 17’s Casey Krajewski reports.