CHARLESTON, W.Va. – You can now travel the I-79 corridor in West Virginia driving a CNG or Compressed Natural Gas vehicle. IGS officially opened their CNG fueling station in Charleston Tuesday with a ribbon cutting.
It’s located in the parking lot at the Spring Street Foodland just off Bigley Ave. It’s the third IGS station to open here in West Virginia. The company also has sites in Jane Lew and Bridgeport.
Scott White, the president of IGS, likened the project to ‘Field of Dreams.’ “If you build it, they will come.”
Already IGS has four corporate customers: Chesapeake Energy, Antero, EQT and the West Virginia Division of Highways. White said the project would not have been possible without their support.
“At the same time that provides the local communities the ability to use CNG,” explained White. “I think it’s a good strategy. It seems to be paying off. West Virginia is already supportive.”
Kanawha County has several CNG-powered vehicles and the City of Charleston has one too. At $2.19 a gallon CNG is much cheaper than filling up with regular unleaded.
White said they are almost complete with Phase I of their project and the sky is the limit in the future.
“While this station is completed, it’s only the start of what we hope will be a network of CNG stations in the region and provide consumers here in West Virginia and surrounding states this opportunity for CNG,” White said.
IGS already has a CNG station in Dublin, Ohio. They’re in the planning stages for a station in Youngstown.
CNG emits up to 30 percent less carbon dioxide, up to 75 percent less carbon monoxide and 95 percent less particulate matter than gasoline or diesel.
White said the best part is that the fuel is coming from right beneath our feet from the Marcellus Shale.