Encana officially unveiled its Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) filling station on Wednesday afternoon.
    Encana’s vice president –demand development and policy, Matt Most, was in from Denver for the facility tour. Drumheller-Stettler MLA, Rick Strankman, and local politicians came out to learn more about the station.
    “This is a real opportunity to bring locally produced fuel to be used by local consumers to drive much cleaner products,” said Most.  “We are really happy to develop this station, not only so we can bring natural gas into our own operations, but we also invited the community to participate.”

(l-r)Encana’s Vice President–demand development and policy, Matt Most, Mayor Terry Yemen and Drumheller-StettlerMLA Rick Strankman at a tour of Encana’s new CNG filling station.

    Encana has made efforts to convert about a quarter of its fleet in the US and Canada to natural gas. While there are only a handful of vehicles working out of the Drumheller office, there are 40-50 operating out of its Strathmore office, which also has a filling station. A third Encana filling station has been installed in Sierra, in northeastern B.C.
    Ben Coates of Encana explains the station is manufactured by IMW Industries and arrived self-contained on a skid. It hooks up to the local residential supply and is able to dispense CNG at pressures for public and fleet use.
    The bulk of station use right now is Encana’s fleet, although there has been trailer tank traffic, which is buying CNG for oil and gas field applications. A few days ago, Luigi Vescarelli, community relations advisor said they had their first private passenger vehicle filled up.

(l-r) Encana’s Ben Coates demonstrates filling an Encana fleet vehicle at its latest CNG filling station in Drumheller with Will Matthews, Team Lead, natural gas economy sales and marketing and Luigi Vescarelli, community relations advisor.

    Most says many markets beyond the U.S. and Canada have tapped into the potential of CNG, and in North America, it is starting to catch on.
    “There are 13 million natural gas vehicles operating world wide, in the U.S. and Canada you have just under 120,000 and that is growing pretty quickly,” he said. “The reason it is growing fast is natural gas is very affordable here in Canada and the United States. We are making it here and there is a real drive to us that product here.”
    He said more manufacturers are making vehicles, which are coming right off the line which can utilize CNG. There are also aftermarket companies that are performing conversions. A typical conversion would cost in the area of $10,000. In a vehicle that is driven 40,000- 50,000 kilometres a year, the expected pay out is two years. The mileage per tank is equivalent to a conventional engine, although power output does drop.
    The final piece of the equation is access to CNG for customers.
    “…All the pieces line up; having the fuel affordable, the stations available and the vehicles available, and it is all happening now,” he said.
    Most says beyond private cars, the biggest users of CNG are medium duty trucking such as busses and refuse vehicles.
    “The type of large vehicles that tend to return to base every night,” he said, adding there could even be agricultural applications to explore.
    “The opportunity for natural gas to play in the transportation industry is just huge,” he said.

    Drumheller residents will be getting a smoother ride through parts of town this summer.
    The Town of Drumheller is close to finalizing their plans for the annual street improvement program. If all goes well, crews could be resurfacing several major streets in the near future.
    Bidding for the contract closed earlier this week, with a recommendation to be presented to Council on May 21.
    “We hope to be in a position to award the tender on May 21 to get the project started as quickly as possible,” said Allan Kendrick, Director of Infrastructure Services for the Town of Drumheller.
    The streets destined for work this summer include 5th Street East between 6th Avenue and Riverside Drive, half of the road to the Drumheller Institution, part of 8th Avenue, and part of 3rd Street SW.

5th Street E is slated for maintenance this summer as part of Drumheller’s annual street improvement program. Other roads scheduled for maintenance include half of the road to the Drumheller Institution, a portion of 8th Avenue, part of 3rd Street SW, and 1st and 2nd Streets in Nacmine. Town Council is expected to award the contract at their meeting on May 21.

    In Nacmine, 1st Street between Hunter Drive and 2nd Avenue, and 2nd Street between 2nd Avenue and 3rd Avenue.
    In addition, the Town hopes to tackle miscellaneous potholes and other needed repairs, and mill and inlay highway intersections. Work on miscellaneous repairs is contingent upon the cost of materials.
    When the work proceeds, the highest priority is 5th Street East to ensure there is no conflict between road construction and the Tour of Alberta race rolling through Drumheller on September 6.
    “It was brought up that 5th Street has to be done well in advance of the bike race or after. Anytime we’ve run (a project) into the fall, there have been issues. We’d rather get things done before,” said Kendrick.
    Council is expected to make a decision to award the tender for the street improvements at their next meeting on Tuesday, May 21.