LOS ANGELES, September 25, 2018 – Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas), local officials and business representatives today celebrated the opening of a new public compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling station located at 16231 Valley Boulevard in Fontana. The ceremony was held during National Clean Energy Week, which was first conceived in 2017 with the goal of advancing support of our nation’s energy sector through new methods of market development, policy change, and technological innovation. The new station was designed to serve the needs of the local and regional trucking industry and is the largest SoCalGas CNG fueling station constructed to date. SoCalGas also recently announced it will soon begin using renewable natural gas for the first time at the 25 utility-owned natural gas vehicle fueling stations across its service territory, as well as at six fueling stations in the San Diego area. Photos are available here.

“The latest generation of natural gas trucks, fueled with renewable natural gas virtually eliminate air pollution and emissions linked to climate change,” said Rodger Schwecke, senior vice president of gas transmission, storage and engineering for SoCalGas. “By giving truck drivers and fleet operators more locations to fuel up, we can put more of these trucks on the road and deliver an immediate benefit to communities, especially those along our busy freeways.”

“Fontana is proud to welcome our first compressed natural gas station to the city,” said City of Fontana Mayor Acquanetta Warren. “As one of the most important regional hubs for the U.S. trucking industry, having this CNG fueling station in Fontana will help us reduce our carbon footprint one truck at a time. We want to thank our partners at Southern California Gas Company for bringing this valuable resource to our community.”

The new CNG station extends the network of CNG stations across a key regional goods movement corridor and will provide owners and operators of natural gas-fueled trucks and other vehicles with a new, convenient place to fuel. The location, which is just off Interstate 10 (I-10) in the Inland Empire, was selected to serve a major logistics transportation corridor. More than 20,000 trucks travel along the freeway each day. 

The transportation sector is responsible for 41 percent of greenhouse gas emissions and 80 percent of smog forming pollution. The latest heavy-duty natural gas engines can cut smog-forming emissions by more than 90 percent compared to the cleanest heavy-duty diesel trucks on the road today. When these trucks are fueled with renewable natural gas (RNG), greenhouse gas emissions are reduced by at least 80 percent.

SoCalGas has worked with fleet owners to secure millions of dollars in incentive funding for the replacement of diesel trucks with cleaner, new near-zero natural gas trucks. Each new natural gas truck that replaces a traditional diesel truck is the equivalent of taking 57 passenger cars off the road. 

Renewable natural gas is produced from the methane generated in landfills, wastewater treatment plants, food processing and dairies and depending on its source, can be low-carbon or in some cases, even carbon-negative. It can be used to fuel trucks and buses, to generate electricity, to heat homes and businesses, and to cook.  

Capturing the methane from these waste sources and using it for fuel has two benefits: It keeps methane, a greenhouse gas, from entering the atmosphere and contributing to climate change, and it reduces the use of traditionally-sourced natural gas.

Already, close to 70 percent of natural gas fleets in California are fueled with renewable natural gas.

The Fontana location is the 13th public SoCalGas-operated CNG fueling station to open, and there are 3 more currently under construction – one in Pacoima, one in Bakersfield and one in Ramona.

About SoCalGas

Headquartered in Los Angeles, SoCalGas® is the largest natural gas distribution utility in the United States. SoCalGas delivers affordable, reliable, clean and increasingly renewable natural gas service to 21.8 million customers across 24,000 square miles of Central and Southern California, where more than 90 percent of residents use natural gas for heating, hot water, cooking, drying clothes or other uses. Natural gas delivered through the company’s pipelines also plays a key role in providing electricity to Californians—about 60 percent of electric power generated in the state comes from gas-fired power plants.  

SoCalGas is committed to investing in its natural gas system infrastructure, while keeping bills affordable for our customers. From 2013 through 2017, the company spent nearly $6 billion to upgrade and modernize its natural gas system to enhance safety and reliability. The company is also committed to being a leader in the region’s clean energy future, and is working to accelerate the use of renewable natural gas from dairy farms, landfills and wastewater treatment plants and the development of renewable energy storage technologies. SoCalGas is a subsidiary of Sempra Energy (NYSE: SRE), an energy services holding company based in San Diego. For more information visit socalgas.com/newsroom or connect with SoCalGas on Twitter (@SoCalGas), Instagram (@SoCalGas) and Facebook.