Virginia Governor Signs Alternative Fuels Bill

Virginia Governor Signs Alternative Fuels Bill

Virginia Governor Robert F. McDonnell has signed into law a bill which requires the Commonwealth to move aggressively to changing its official fleet of vehicles to alternative fuels.

According to the description of HB 2282, the new law:

“Requires the Director of the Department of General Services in conjunction with the Secretary of Administration and the Governor’s senior advisor on energy to develop a plan for the replacement of vehicles in the centralized fleet with vehicles which operate using natural gas, electricity, or other alternative fuels.”

Changing fleet vehicles – whether government, utility vans, express delivery trucks, municipal buses, or taxicabs – to natural gas or other alternative fuels is a hallmark of the Pickens Plan which has been promoted by T. Boone Pickens since July 2008.

Fleet vehicles tend to go home to “the barn” each night and so are easily refueled at a central facility.

Natural gas vehicles (NGVs) are cheaper to operate because natural gas costs about 20 percent less than gasoline or diesel; they emit 20-30 percent less greenhouse gases and, because natural gas is a domestic resource, state taxpayers are not helping to fund governments in Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela.

Boone Pickens has met with a number of Governors – in all sections of the nation and of both political parties – to help them better understand the value of utilizing atural gas as a principal fuel for state-owned vehicles.

To read the entire summary of HB 2282, click HERE.

— The Pickens Team