HARRISBURG, Pa. (EYT) — A compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling station will help reduce air pollution from trucks traveling along Interstate 80, thanks to a grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.

The CNG Fuel LLC station in Shippenville was the recent recipient of a $178,785.00 grant through the Alternative Fuels Incentive Grant (AFIG) FAST Act program, the only one in the state to receive it.

“This grant will promote more use of CNG tractor-trailers along I-80, which will remove hundreds of thousands of pounds of air pollution,” said DEP Secretary Patrick McDonnell.

The project, once completed, will displace an estimated 116,650 gallons of diesel fuel per year, as more tractor-trailers equipped to run on CNG will utilize the facility and travel on the I-80 corridor.

The reduction in diesel use will result in reductions of more than 86,000 pounds of carbon dioxide and more than 322,000 pounds of nitrous oxide.

“With many of these clean fuel infrastructure projects, there is a chicken and egg problem – without the infrastructure to refuel these vehicles, will they be used?” said McDonnell. “With this project, we’re helping to solve that problem.”

The funding is made possible through the Alternative Fuels Incentive Grant Program in support of FAST (Fixing America’s Surface Transportation) Act corridor designations in Pennsylvania.

The program provides up to a 50 percent reimbursement grant to install public refueling infrastructure along the highway corridors in Pennsylvania designated as alternative fuel corridors by the FAST Act as “Signage Ready” or “Signage Pending” by the Federal Highway Administration.

The designated corridors in Pennsylvania I-76, I-276, I-476, I-95, and I-80.

The submission period for the most recent AFIG FAST Act grant round was from September 30, 2017, through November 17, 2017.

The next round of the AFIG Program supporting the FAST Act corridor designations is anticipated to open this spring, once additional corridors in Pennsylvania are announced by the Federal Highway Administration.

More information on AFIG programs can be found at www.dep.pa.gov/Citizens/GrantsLoansRebates/Alternative-Fuels-Incentive-Grant/Pages/default.aspx.