Peters Township to Test Natural Gas Vehicles

Representatives from Peters Township, Upper St. Clair and North Strabane met Wednesday with Pittsburgh Region Clean Cities (PRCC) to . 

In addition to the three municipalities, the study also includes the Peters Township Sanitary Authority, the Peters Township Ambulance Service and Tri-Community South EMS. 

The goal of the study is to determine the feasibility of converting the existing municipal vehicle fleets to alternative fuels, including clean burning natural gas. 

The municipal vehicle fleets are diverse and include vehicles such as public works trucks, police cars, fire trucks, ambulances and other municipal vehicles.

“The benefits are obvious—a more sustainable municipal fleet through the use of lower emissions vehicles, extending vehicle life, and reducing maintenance and operating costs in the future as the price of oil escalates while the price of natural gas remains stable,” said . 

“Given the anticipated supply of locally generated natural gas, the rising cost of traditional fuel, and the desire for municipalities to become more sustainable, we have significant interest in evaluating the benefits and understanding the challenges of using natural gas to fuel all or part of our fleet,” said Frank Siffrinn, North Strabane manager.

PRCC is the recipient of to cover the cost of the study, which will be performed by Life Cycle Engineering, Inc., and P.C. McKenzie. 

While the outcome of the study is to be a guide for the conversion of the participants’ municipal fleets, it will also serve as a roadmap for municipalities throughout western Pennsylvania for fleet conversion. 

Jan Lauer, president of PRCC, indicated that PRCC chose to work with these South Hills municipalities given their proximity to the and the professional nature in which the communities are governed. 

PRCC believes that these communities can serve as a model for municipalities throughout western Pennsylvania when it comes to conversion to alternative fuels for their fleets.   

Pittsburgh Region Clean Cities (PRCC) is one of 87 Clean Cities coalitions across the country. The coalitions were formed during the 1990s in response to a call from the U.S. Department of Energy to build local coalitions of stakeholders to help fleets reduce their dependence on foreign oil and reduce related emissions. 

PRCC has the mission of educating and providing technical support to organizations and individuals that are interested in converting their vehicles to alternative fuels.