POMONA, CA - The City of Pomona, Calif., purchased 22 compressed natural gas (CNG) refuse trucks, replacing its entire diesel refuse truck fleet. City Council approved the purchase in December 2011, and the City expects delivery of the vehicles in August and September this year.

"Mack was the lowest bid with the help of a grant that was available only to manufacturers," said Howard Morris, solid waste manager for the City. He explained the manufacturer had been awarded $32,000 for each truck through grant funding from the California Energy Commission (CEC), which was passed on to the City. The total cost to the City for the 20 side loaders and two rear loaders was approximately $5.16M.

The Mack Trucks and New Way bodies are American made.

The South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD) mandated the City and other agencies to switch to all CNG refuse trucks by 2020. Howard said this purchase of CNG vehicles allows the City to be in compliance with the regulation eight years early. The trucks being replaced are diesel vehicles from model-year 1997-2005. The City will sell the vehicles through an auction company that also does online auctions.

While the City does not have a CNG fueling station, Morris said staff will fuel the vehicles at Foothill Transit, which has a fueling facility in Pomona. The facility has capacity for the refuse trucks, and Morris said fueling will be staggered to not compete with transit buses being fueled.

"[Fueling] won't be a problem for us," Morris said.

By Thi Dao