ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — In the four decades since 40 workerswere killed by an explosion in a
108-foot-tall liquefied natural gastank in Staten Island, New York has banned construction of
suchfacilities.It wasn’t a major issue over the years, without muchdemand for the fuel that’s created by
chilling natural gas to anextremely low temperature to a liquid state. The state’s three existingLNG storage
facilities, built on Long Island in the 1960s, remain inoperation, exempt from the ban.Now things have
changed. Demand isrising as trucking companies switch from diesel fuel to LNG, whichdoesn’t produce the
toxic fumes in diesel exhaust that are associatedwith smog, asthma, lung cancer and other health problems.
It’s also muchcheaper than diesel because the abundance of natural gas produced byhydraulic fracturing in
shale formations has driven prices to nearhistoric lows.New York’s ban puts up a roadblock as
companiesincluding Royal Dutch Shell PLC, General Electric Co. and Clean EnergyFuels build out a nationwide
network of LNG fueling facilities. TheDepartment of Environmental Conservation has drafted
regulations,expected to be finalized by early next year, that will allow LNGtruck-fueling stations and other
types of LNG storage plants. The agencyestimates that about 21 fueling stations will be built over the
nextfive years.Some environmental groups oppose letting LNGfacilities in, citing concerns about safety and
methane emissions. NewYorkers Against Fracking calls the regulations a backdoor attempt to getthe
infrastructure in place for shale gas development, which has beenbanned since the state began an
environmental review of it in 2008.Thestate Motor Truck Association says major fleet operators that
haveswitched to LNG are realizing savings of $1 to $3 per diesel equivalentgallon. UPS is now operating 59
LNG trucks between its southernCalifornia and Las Vegas depots and more than 1,000 natural gas
trucksnationwide. Lowe’s Cos. has launched a fleet of LNG trucks at adistribution center in Texas and says
its goal is to replace all itsdiesel-powered fleets with natural gas trucks by the end of 2017.Naturalgas
has been used as a truck and bus fuel for many years but ascompressed gas rather than liquid. Compressed
natural gas is good forvehicles that return to a central hub to slowly refuel overnight, likegarbage trucks
and municipal buses, but is impractical for long-haultrucks. Tractor-trailers can’t carry enough compressed
gas to go longdistances, and refueling is slow. Liquefied natural gas is higher inenergy and flows into the
gas tank as fast as diesel.The mainobstacles to increasing use of LNG by long-haul freight companies arethe
cost of specialized trucks with double-walled tanks, which can cost$10,000 more than diesel trucks, and
scarcity of fueling stations.Accordingto the U.S. Department of Energy, there are now 81 LNG fueling
stationsin 14 states, with more than half of them in California and the restprimarily west of the
Mississippi. But the number is poised to risesignificantly in the next few years.Shell has announced plans
tobuild LNG fueling facilities at up to 100 TravelCenter and Petro truckstops along interstate
highways.Clean Energy Fuels, co-founded bybillionaire T. Boone Pickens, is installing LNG fueling tanks at
FlyingJ truck stops coast to coast. Among the planned fueling stations listedon Clean Energy’s website are
two in New York: in Rotterdam, about 20miles west of Albany serving the Interstate 88 corridor, and
Pembroke,along Interstate 90 in western New York. They will need state permitsunder the new
regulations.Spokesman Patric Rayburn said CleanEnergy completed 70 stations nationwide in 2012 and
anticipatescompleting 30 to 50 more in 2013, though many are not yet fueling."As more LNG trucks are
put into service, we get the stations up and running," Rayburn said.Copyright 2013 The Associated
Press. All rightsreserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten orredistributed.