Seal Beach, CA-based Clean Energy Fuels Corp. on Friday applauded President Obama for his support of natural gas in the transportation sector, which he underscored this week in his State of the Union address.

Obama spoke Thursday at the Nevada UPS facility in support of natural gas-fueled trucking as a piece of his “blueprint for an economy that’s built to last.” The UPS trucking facility is near Clean Energy’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) fueling station, one of 150 it is developing nationwide as part of a natural gas highway system that is projected to touch 33 states by the end of this year (see Daily GPI, Jan. 25).

Clean Energy said it is favoring the use of natural gas for transportation, which supports the company’s core business of providing LNG and compressed natural gas (CNG) for transportation and the infrastructure for fueling fleets and individually owned vehicles. Obama now is championing getting more natural gas-powered vehicles on the road through federal and local government fleets, tax incentives to help companies buy clean-fuel trucks, and expanding the fueling infrastructure, which is Clean Energy’s primary focus.

Clean Energy CEO Andrew Littlefair said the president’s push could “make the most of America’s energy resources.” According to Littlefair, Obama has now demonstrated his administration’s support for the interstate natural gas-fueled trucking corridor that it proposed last year (see Daily GPI, Aug. 25, 2011).

“The newest Clean Energy fueling station on the national highway is located in Las Vegas nearby the UPS Depot and provides the link for trucking between Los Angeles and Salt Lake City, a vital goods movement corridor in the Southwest,” Clean Energy said.

The latest station built by Clean Energy on land it owns was supported through its own capital, along with funding from the federal stimulus package (America Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009) funds that were allocated by the South Coast Air Quality Management District. Federal funds also helped UPS in purchasing 48 new natural gas-fueled trucks for its Las Vegas Depot, and Clean Energy signed a long-term contract with UPS last year to fuel the trucks.

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