Port Wins Grant to Assist in Purchase of Natural Gas Vehicles

$300,000 grant will cover the increased cost for alternative fuel vehicles

The Port of Seattle recently won $300,000 in grants from the U.S. Department of Energy to increase the use of ground vehicles powered by natural gas at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

The money will not be used to fund the entire cost of vehicle purchases. Instead, it will help pay the difference in cost between traditional-fuel and natural gas vehicles.

"We will use this money to leverage ourselves into more environmentally friendly equipment," said Gina Marie Lindsey, Managing Director of Aviation for the Port. "We budget for and buy vehicles on a regular replacement basis. These grants will fund some of the additional cost of buying vehicles powered by natural gas instead of diesel or gasoline."

Lindsey praised the Department of Energy for making the grants available.

"This type of grant program is a very creative way to help organizations do the right thing," she said.

The money comes in the form of two grants:

$200,000 to the Port for the increased cost of seven buses;
$100,000 for private companies operating ground transportation services to purchase 43 vans upgraded to natural gas.

"We were pleased to hear that the Port of Seattle was awarded a U.S. DOE grant for purchasing up to 50 compressed natural gas vans and buses," said Kim Lyons, Alternative Transportation Fuels Resource Specialist at the Washington State University Cooperative Extension Energy Program. Lyons assisted the Port in identifying and applying for the grant.

"The alternative fuels program at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport is developing nicely. With the addition of these vehicles, the Port is becoming a leader in the region in advancing the use of alternative transportation fuels."

The Port is eligible for the grants because of its participation in the national Clean Cities program. Clean Cities projects promote the use of alternative fuel vehicles to reduce the nation's dependence on foreign oil and improve air quality. Along with WSU, the Puget Sound Clean Cities Coalition helped the Port win the grant.

The Port expects to have its seven buses in service by Oct. 15, and will start working immediately with shared-ride providers to identify new van purchases that would be eligible for the upgrade funding.

The Port is also building a natural gas refueling station at Sea-Tac. The station will be built outside the security area, in the hopes that other neighboring agencies will convert to natural gas once they have a convenient place to refuel their vehicles.