Waste Management sought to develop a compressed natural gas fueling stations to support its existing and rapidly expanding private fleet of compressed natural gas-powered solid waste collection vehicles in the City of Santa Maria, as well as other local and regional goods movement fleets along the Highway 101 major transportation corridor. This critical infrastructure project provides solutions to overcome the significant refueling barrier that has hindered the development and widespread use of natural gas as a transportation fuel in the Santa Barbara region.
The project is located at 1850 W. Betteravia in Santa Maria, California, providing a convenient and affordable source of compressed natural gas fuel for the Waste Management fleet of heavy-duty refuse trucks that operate daily from this facility. The fueling station also provides a convenient source of fuel to other local goods movement and regional goods movement fleets that travel along the heavily trafficked Highway 101 transportation corridor that passes through the City of Santa Maria.
The goal of developing a compressed natural gas fueling station in the Santa Maria / Santa Barbara area near Highway 101 was to provide incentive for foods movement operators, municipal fleets, school districts, and water agencies to adopt or expand the use of their natural gas advanced technologies. Another goal was to enable the accelerated replacement of heavy-duty diesel trucks with clean-burning, ultra-low-emission natural gas trucks to stimulate the U.S. manufacturing base and economy and assist in the development of a more aggressive “green” automotive industry in the United States. A final goal of this project was to infuse further the Southern California regional natural gas refueling infrastructure with locally produced, ultra-low carbon compressed natural gas fuel.
