Dallas Sees Natural Gas Transportation In Its Future (CLNE)

The City of Dallas has one of the largest transportation authorities in Texas. Its Dallas Area Rapid Transit group (DART) moves well over 220,000 people a day around Dallas and 12 neighboring cities. In 2010, 38 million passengers rode DART buses. The news that DART has plans to convert its entire fleet of buses and vehicles to compressed natural gas (CNG) is huge. Over the next three years, the agency plans to deploy 452 new CNG buses and 200 CNG para-transit vehicles as replacements for its current fleet of diesel-powered models that began service in 1998. The real winner in this announcement is Clean Energy Fuels CLNE. The company recently won a $40 million contract to build four CNG fueling stations. Clean Energy Fuels, which is the largest provider of natural gas fuel for transportation in North America, will begin project development this month and anticipates completing the first DART CNG fueling station in April 2012. This deal highlights the continued appeal in natural gas as a transportation fuel source. Clean Energy Fuels offers investors a chance to participate in that growth.