The race to secure the alternative fuels market is on as unpredictable diesel prices have forced the trucking industry to explore other fueling options to help increase their profits, while lowering their fuel costs.

On Tuesday, July 17, two companies, DeBartolo Development, a real estate development company, and Keystone Consulting Group, a real estate consulting firm, announced a plan to build 1,000 compressed natural gas fueling stations in the U.S. over the next four years. They plan to build 10 initial sites as part of the CNG Infrastructure Expansion Project.

Erik Hector, a managing member of the Keystone Consulting Group, told Land Line that they are initially focusing their efforts to build sites in five states – Florida, Louisiana, West Virginia, Ohio and California – but opportunities are being discovered in many other states as well.

“We are negotiating with several co-developers, users and tenants, but we are not yet able to announce locations,” Hector said.

“In the initial years of our effort, we anticipate private access facilities will be the predominant investment option with public stations becoming more popular as markets are ‘seeded’ with bi-fuel vehicles,” Hector said. “We hope to deploy a layered strategy to foster the acceptance of CNG fuels by both private and public users.

When asked if new fueling stations will be available to small-business truckers, Hector said that “one-third of our outstanding Letters of Intent involve stations serving your (Land Line) readership.”