By Lynn Lyon, Manager of Strategic Projects – Domestic Operations at Pioneer Natural Resources,
posted on Monday, December 12, 2011.
Last week, San Antonio's Clean Technology Forum hosted a
conference to discuss the opportunities for the region from
development of the Eagle Ford Shale. The forum focused
heavily on the energy supply and economic benefits that the Eagle
Ford Shale can provide for Texas, and how the resources from Eagle
Ford can be used to expand the natural gas vehicle (NGV) fleet and
overall infrastructure in San Antonio.
As the city of San Antonio has grown and expanded, so have its
air emissions. It is now very close to joining its sister cities of
Houston and Dallas/Fort Worth in reaching "non-attainment" status -
in other words, the city's air emissions do not meet federal
standards set by the Clean Air Act. Fortunately, the same
home-grown energy source that boosts Texas' economy is also the
same fuel that can help reduce its air pollution. While each
major city is making its own progress toward building out natural
gas vehicle infrastructure, there's also a major initiative
underway to ensure cleaner air in the whole Texas Mega-region.
The Texas Clean Transportation Triangle (TCTT) is a strategic
effort to create a sustainable network of natural gas refueling
stations along the Texas Triangle (Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth,
Houston and San Antonio). At least 10 percent of the U.S.
transportation sector travels through the Triangle each year,
laying a foundation for wider-scale deployment of NGVs in the Texas
market and making the transition to a lower cost,
domestically-produced, and cleaner fuel a more viable option for
Texas businesses, cities and consumers. The emissions benefits that
will result from the implementation of the TCTT is the equivalent
of taking more than 175,000 cars off of Texas highways in the
state's most populated areas.
In terms of NGV strides from individual cities, San Antonio is
leading the way in Texas. The City of San Antonio's Solid
Waste Management Department operates the largest CNG-powered fleet
of refuse trucks in Texas. This statistic alone emphasizes the
importance of the role the business, civic and technology
communities play in establishing a national model of sustainable
development of valuable resources such as the Eagle Ford Shale.
Converting one waste truck to natural gas is the pollution
equivalent of removing 325 cars from the streets.
Additionally, Rio San Antonio Cruises' 42 tour, taxi and
maintenance riverboats are powered by CNG and San Antonio's
VIA Metropolitan Transit was recently awarded $3 million under the
Federal Transportation Administration's Clean Fuels Program to
purchase three 60-foot buses that also will run on CNG.
We applaud the City of San Antonio for taking advantage of this
clean, home-grown, and abundant resource. The development of
natural gas from the Eagle Ford shale provide jobs and boosts the
local economy and its use in power generation and transportation
can help clean our air. We hope other cities will look to
Texas as a model.