BATON ROUGE, La. – Today, the Louisiana Department of Transportation (DOTD) announced the purchase of three Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) vehicles that will help to decrease emissions, improve air quality and provide access to jobs and community services for citizens utilizing public transportation in Grant Parish.

"DOTD is committed to enhancing the quality of life for citizens by improving people’s access to jobs and to community services," said DOTD Secretary Sherri H. LeBas." The rural transit agencies DOTD works with provide a vital service in the communities they serve, and I am pleased that we are able to partner with them each year."

The purchased vehicles will be supplied to the Grant Parish Sheriff’s Office, who will begin operating a new transit system for the parish’s residents, for a total cost of approximately $170 thousand.

"The use of CNG and other alternative fuels in vehicles reduces the amount of pollutants released into the air," said Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality Secretary Peggy Hatch. "We commend DOTD and Grant Parish for their proactive approach to improving air quality and the environment for Louisiana citizens."

CNG vehicles have been found to produce lower emission levels than vehicles fueled by gasoline, which improves air quality. Specifically, CNG vehicles have been proven to decrease:

• carbon monoxide emissions by 70 to 90 percent
• non-methane organic gas emissions by 50 to 75 percent
• nitrogen oxide emissions by 75 to 95 percent
• carbon dioxide emissions by 20 to 30 percent

In addition, since CNG fuel systems are sealed, they produce no evaporative emissions.

The Grant Parish Police Jury has secured funding from the U.S. Department of Energy and the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources to build a CNG fueling station on U.S. 167 near Dry Prong, which will provide CNG fuel for parish vehicles and the general public. The savings in fuel costs will save the parish thousands of dollars each year.

Grant Parish Sheriff Steven McCain added, "This will be a huge asset to our Triad program, and more importantly to the people of Grant Parish. We are excited about the efficiency of these new vehicles and we will announce the program details after we take possession of the vehicles."

DOTD is scheduled to turn the vehicles over to Grant Parish within the next two weeks.

DOTD works with rural transit agencies across the state to provide vehicles and operational support through the Federal Section 5311 Rural Transit Program in order to provide residents with access to health care, employment, shopping, community services and recreation. Funding for the program consists primarily of federal funding with a local match.

For more information on the DOTD Public Transportation section and the programs it administers, visit: http://1.usa.gov/17JcGwA.