Tulsa, OK - Oklahoma House Speaker Chris Benge and AT&T’s Bryan Gonterman Tuesday announced that AT&T* in Oklahoma plans to roll out a fleet of at least 30 Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) vehicles this year in part because of recently approved tax incentives developed by Benge.

“Because of these tax incentives, as well as the high number of existing CNG fueling locations in the state and our goal of more fuel efficiency, we’re excited to be one of the first companies to make a serious commitment to CNG vehicles in Oklahoma,” said Gonterman, president, AT&T Oklahoma. “We should commend Speaker Benge for his vision and the co-authors of the bills for developing legislation that lessens our dependence on foreign oil by using one of our state’s most abundant and affordable resources.”

Benge said the AT&T announcement is the type of commitment from the business community he had hoped for when he developed the CNG plan.

“Using compressed natural gas as a local transportation fuel makes sense from an economic perspective, but will also make our country more energy independent. The tax incentives put in place this legislative session are meant to serve as a catalyst to encourage additional alternative energy usage in our state,” said Benge, of Tulsa. “Oklahoma is poised to lead the way nationally in alternative-fuel vehicles, and this legislation is only the beginning in crafting a statewide energy plan that will utilize local energy assets to lessen our country’s dependence on volatile foreign oil. We must secure our energy future in order to secure our economic future.”

Benge and Gonterman made the announcement at the headquarters of Tulsa Gas Technologies, a local manufacturer of CNG fueling equipment. The event was attended by various Tulsa-area state lawmakers and a variety of civic and community officials.

Gonterman said the 30 CNG-powered vans represent nearly 10 percent of AT&T’s van fleet in Oklahoma. He said Benge’s plan provided the right incentive to support AT&T bringing more of the new CNG-powered vehicles to Oklahoma and to do so faster than other states.

Over the next 10 years, AT&T will replace many more of its vehicles with more fuel-efficient CNG and hybrid vehicles. Last March, AT&T announced a national, 10-year plan to deploy more than 15,000 alternative-fuel vehicles.

“I’ve been in this business for 20 years and Speaker Benge’s legislation provides the right incentive at the right time to encourage more businesses and individuals to make the switch to CNG,” said Tom Sewell, president, Tulsa Gas Technologies. “When Oklahomans buy more locally produced natural gas, we’re becoming less dependent on foreign oil, we’re helping the environment and we’re benefiting our communities and schools because more of the taxes stay in our state.”

Ronn Cupp, senior vice president of government affairs with the State Chamber of Oklahoma, said he expects other companies will take note of the benefits offered by Benge’s energy legislation, which could attract business and jobs to Oklahoma over the long-term.

“This legislation showcases the proper role of government, which is to help build infrastructure and encourage the use of local resources, which will be a benefit to our state’s economy as a whole,” Cupp said. “AT&T’s announcement today is proof that private industry is taking note of the steps we are making right here in Oklahoma to diversify our energy sector and ensure that we are using local resources as best we can to help grow our economy.” 

While continuing to promote Oklahoma’s oil-and-gas industry, House Bill 1949 passed this session uses free market incentives to secure the state’s national role in the alternative energy market. The legislation extends a significant tax credit to offset the cost of converting a vehicle to run on compressed natural gas or other alternative fuels plus a $2,500 tax credit for installing home-fueling CNG stations.

House Bill 1952 also seeks to help further expand the number of vehicles in the state running on alternative fuels like CNG. The legislation will also help expand the number of publicly available fueling stations across the state.

The bill allows the Department of Central Services to provide fleet services to schools, county and municipal governments and provide public access to alternative fueling infrastructure in underserved areas.

The “State Fleet Management Fund” is amended to allow money from the fund to be used to build alternative fueling infrastructure or to acquire alternative fuel vehicles for use by state agencies or to lease to political subdivisions. The bill states that money from lease payments would be deposited into the fund.

The allowable loan amount out of the fund for a fill station will increase to $300,000, and a current cap of $10,000 per vehicle conversion will remain intact.

Finally, the bill also repeals cost-prohibitive California Air Resources Board emission limits, and instead defers to emissions standards put in place by the federal Environmental Protection Agency. This change will make conversions easier and less cost-prohibitive but would still keep federal standards in place on all conversion kits. 
Nationwide, AT&T plans to invest up to $565 million as part of its long-term, alternative-fuel-vehicle strategy. AT&T expects to spend an estimated $350 million to purchase about 8,000 Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) vehicles and approximately $215 million to begin replacing its passenger cars with alternative-fuel models. AT&T’s investment represents the largest U.S. corporate commitment to CNG vehicles to date.

The Center for Automotive Research (CAR) in Ann Arbor, Mich., estimates that the new vehicles will save 49 million gallons of gasoline and reduce carbon emissions by 211,000 metric tons over the 10-year deployment period. That is equivalent to removing the emissions from more than 38,600 traditional passenger vehicles for a year. 

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