MADISON, WI – A $150,000 grant from Wisconsin's State Energy Office will allow Dane County to upgrade and purchase the filling station that has been converting methane produced by the county's Rodefeld Landfill into compressed natural gas (CNG) for nearly a year. County Executive Joe Parisi announced March 8, according to a release from the City.

This bio-CNG costs the county the equivalent of 20 cents a gallon in gasoline. Dane County is the first location in the state that is fueling vehicles on landfill gas. 

Parisi has made it a priority to transition CNG vehicles into the county's fleet whenever possible. The county currently has 16 CNG vehicles, with plans to increase the CNG fleet to as many as 30 vehicles by the end of the year.

The switch to CNG will offset the use of approximately 20,000 gallons of diesel and gasoline, saving county taxpayers roughly $40,000 annually.  The new filling station will be capable of producing about 200 gallons a day of bio-CNG from landfill gas and even more CNG from natural gas if needed.

Owning the filling station will not only save taxpayer money, it will expand the use of CNG in Dane County through the sale of the fuel to private companies. The county has already sold 870 gallons of CNG to two trucking companies that haul new McNeilus CNG trucks to customers.

Dane County will receive the $150,000 grant pending final approval by the Dane County Board. The county will pay the remaining $360,000 necessary to purchase the station.

The County has received national recognition for its CNG efforts as well.  In January, the county received the federal Environmental Protection Agency's 2011 Project of the Year Award as part of the agency's Landfill Methane Outreach Program (LMOP).