Florida's St. John's County has entered a partnership with a natural gas fueling developer to transition its fleet to compressed natural gas (CNG).

Nopetro is expected to sign a 20-year lease with payments starting at $40,000 per year and a royalty of 8.5 cents per gallon of fuel sold beyond the county fleet’s needs, according to an article on the company website.

The county expects to receive a $732,462 grant towards its CNG conversion initiatives from the North Florida Transportation Planning Organization. The county is considering converting about 130 vehicles to run on CNG over the next two to three years, and possibly more in the future, according to county records.

NoPetro has already successfully opened a CNG fueling facility for Leon County's schools in Florida. That contract also states that a portion of proceeds from fuel sales that other consumers purchase will go back to the school district. The company reports that sales at that site were 300% higher than expected, which came from additional municipal buses and waste vehicles as well as private fleets.