AGA had an early role in promoting natural gas vehicles
The American Gas Association has long believed in natural gas as the abundant, safe and clean alternative to gasoline—even before it was fashionable.
In the ’60s, AGA executives took notice of the Blue Flame, a dragster that was aiming for a new world land speed record. The kicker? Engineers were fueling the rocket car with natural gas.
AGA sponsored the car, recognizing its value in the “promotion of the safety and usefulness of liquefied natural gas,” racer Pete Farnsworth said in a 2007 interview.
On Oct. 23, 1970, the Blue Flame made history by setting a new Federation Internationale de l’Automobile official world land speed record of 622.407 miles per hour at Utah’s Bonneville Salt Flats, a record that would stand for more than a decade.
Natural gas vehicles were also front and center at AGA’s second Rally for Fuel Savings, an association-sponsored caravan of NGVs that traveled to 32 cities across the United States in 1986. This, as well as the first rally in 1984, helped promote the reliability, safety and practicality of NGVs.
AGA also pushed for legislation signed by President George H.W. Bush in the fall of 1992, according to information published in a 75th anniversary article that appeared in the July 1993 issue of American Gas.
The Energy Policy Act of 1992 provided research funding for natural gas supply and for new gas heating and cooling technologies, which made it easier for non-utilities to buy gas for electricity generation and gave NGVs a double push forward with a federal purchase plan and a tax incentive for other purchases, according to the article.
AGA also had an influential impact during the ramp-up of commercialization efforts in the early 1990s by forming the AGA NGV Marketing Committee, recalled Bill Liss, managing director for energy delivery and utilization at the Gas Technology Institute, and Tony Lindsay, R&D director for transportation at GTI.
These efforts led to the formation of the Natural Gas Vehicle Coalition, which is now NGV America, they said.
“AGA has been a stable force in the development of early NGV standards through AGA Labs, now part of CSA Group, and through committee membership on NFPA-52, Vehicular Natural Gas Fuel Systems Code,” Liss and Lindsay told American Gas. “They also provided important input to the U.S. Department of Transportation.”
NGV America and CSA Group continue to carry on the efforts initiated under AGA’s leadership as the NGV industry matures, they said.