RIVERSIDE, CA – Riverside Mayor Ron Loveridge, city council members, and Air Quality Management District (AQMD) officials dedicated the first municipal hydrogen fueling station in the Inland Empire at the city’s Corporation Yard. According to a city news release, Riverside is one of five Southland cities partnering with the AQMD to demonstrate hydrogen-fueling stations and a total of 30 hybrid Priuses with internal combustion engines that have been modified by Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies Worldwide, Inc. to burn gaseous hydrogen. Although a small number of hydrogen stations now operate across the country, primarily to refuel fuel cell vehicles, the five in Southern California are the first in the nation based at cities and focused on fueling internal-combustion vehicle fleets, according to AQMD officials. The stations also will be able to refuel fuel cell vehicles. The other cities include Burbank, Ontario, Santa Ana, and Santa Monica. Each city and the AQMD will operate five hydrogen-fueled Priuses for five years.