Heavy-duty truckers welcome new ‘natural gas highway’ in Alberta

From the Canadian Energy Centre

New compressed natural gas fueling stations in Grande Prairie and Calgary join new stop in Edmonton

Heavy-duty truckers hauling everything from restaurant supplies to specialized oilfield services along one of Western Canada’s busiest corridors now have more access to a fuel that can help reduce emissions and save costs.

Two new fuelling stations serving compressed natural gas (CNG) rather than diesel in Grande Prairie and Calgary, along with a stop that opened in Edmonton last year, create the first phase of what proponents call a “natural gas highway”.

“Compressed natural gas is viable, it’s competitive and it’s good for the environment,” said Murray Mullen, chair of Mullen Group, which operates more than 4,300 trucks and thousands of pieces of equipment supporting Western Canada’s energy industry.

Right now, the company is running 19 CNG units and plans to deploy another 15 as they become available.

“They’re running the highways right now and they’re performing exceptionally well,” Mullen said on Oct. 22 during the ribbon-cutting ceremony opening the new station on the northern edge of Calgary along Highway 2.

“Our people love them, our customers love them and I think it’s going to be the way for the future to be honest,” he said.

Heavy-duty trucks at Tourmaline and Clean Energy’s new Calgary compressed natural gas fuelling station. Photo courtesy Tourmaline

According to Natural Resources Canada, natural gas burns more cleanly than gasoline or diesel fuel, producing fewer toxic pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change.

The two new CNG stops are part of a $70 million partnership announced last year between major Canadian natural gas producer Tourmaline and California-based Clean Energy Fuels.

Their deal would see up to 20 new CNG stations built in Western Canada over the next five years, daily filling up to 3,000 natural gas-fueled trucks.

One of North America’s biggest trucking suppliers to businesses including McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, Subway and Popeye’s says the new stations will help as it expands its fleet of CNG-powered vehicles across Canada.

Amy Senter, global vice-president of sustainability with Illinois-based Martin Brower, said in a statement that using more CNG is critical to the company achieving its emissions reduction targets.

For Tourmaline, delivering CNG to heavy-duty truckers builds on its multi-year program to displace diesel in its operations, primarily by switching drilling equipment to run on natural gas.

Between 2018 and 2022, the company displaced the equivalent of 36 Olympic-sized swimming pools worth of diesel that didn’t get used, or the equivalent emissions of about 58,000 passenger vehicles.

Tourmaline CEO Mike Rose speaks to reporters during the opening of a new Tourmaline/Clean Energy compressed natural gas fuelling station in Calgary on Oct. 22, 2024. Photo courtesy Tourmaline

Tourmaline CEO Mike Rose noted that the trucking sector switching fuel from diesel to natural gas is gaining momentum, notably in Asia.

A “small but growing” share of China’s trucking fleet moving to natural gas helped drive an 11 percent reduction in overall diesel consumption this June compared to the previous year, according to the latest data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

“China’s talking about 30 percent of the trucks sold going forward are to be CNG trucks, and it’s all about reducing emissions,” Rose said.

“It’s one global atmosphere. We’re going to reduce them here; they’re going to reduce them there and everybody’s a net winner.”

Switching from diesel to CNG is “extremely cost competitive” for trucking fleets, said Clean Energy CEO Andrew Littlefair.

“It will really move the big rigs that we need in Western Canada for the long distance and heavy loads,” he said.

Tourmaline and Clean Energy aim to have seven CNG fuelling stations operating by the end of 2025. Construction is set to begin in Kamloops, B.C., followed by Fort McMurray and Fort St. John.

“You’ll have that Western Canadian corridor, and then we’ll grow it from there,” Littlefair said.

Up Next

Gas prices plummet in BC thanks to TMX pipeline expansion

Don't Miss

Another Blow To The Carbon Tax

Todayville

Todayville is a digital media and technology company. We profile unique stories and events in our community. Register and promote your community event for free.

Follow Author

‘Don’t Write About The Laptop’: Two Reporters Allege Outlets Killed Stories About Bidens

Business / 12 hours ago

Taxpayers launching court fight against undemocratic capital gains tax hike

conflict / 12 hours ago

Trump tells World Economic Forum ‘time to end’ war in Ukraine

Alberta

Province Releases Blockbuster Review of COVID-19 Pandemic Response

Published on January 24, 2025

Duane Rolheiser

A blockbuster report headed up by Dr. Gary Davidson has been released. The review should rattle the foundations of Alberta Health and very likely have huge ramifications everywhere as it’s one of only a very few reviews of this kind to be released anywhere in the world.

You can find the report here: open.alberta.ca/publications/a

Premier Danielle Smith tasked Dr. Davidson with this project over 2 years ago. Former head of Emergency Medicine for the central zone and Chief of the Emergency Department at Red Deer Regional Hospital from 2016-2020, Dr. Davidson found himself on the outside looking in during the COVID-19 pandemic when he criticized the accepted treatments and refused to take the jab. Shortly after Danielle Smith became Premier, she called on Dr. Davidson to lead a review.. and has he ever.

Released earlier today (Friday, January 24), the 250 page report is extremely critical of many aspects of the health system’s approach to the pandemic.

You can find the report here: open.alberta.ca/publications/a

The team assembled by Dr. Davidson includes some of the leading Albertans you would hope to be involved in a provincial COVID-19 review including Dr. Davison himself, Dr. Blaine Achen (who was fired for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine after having recovered from COVID and realizing he had immunity. He was soon reinstated.), Infectious Disease Epidemiologist Dr. David Vickers of the Centre for Health Informatics at the University of Calgary’s Cumming School of Medicine, as well as Dr “Rashad” Justin Chin, Emergency Medicine Specialist at the University of Alberta Emergency Department.

The team called out and received support from some of the world’s leading experts on the COVID-19 pandemic including David Speicher, a PhD and molecular virologist and clinical epidemiologist with expertise in detection and surveillance of infectious diseases. Dr. Speicher’s work has been highlighted in the U.S. Senate as well as European Parliamentary hearings.

Dr Davidson also pulled in Dr. Byram Bridle. The PhD viral immunologist and Associate Professor of Viral Immunology in the Department of Pathobiology at the University of Guelph who became renowned for his early and accurate information on the COVID-19 pandemic and the vaccine response.

The review was also aided by US President Donald Trumps selection for Secretary of HHS, Dr Jay Battacharya. Dr. Battacharya catapulted to fame for his part in the Great Barrington Declaration released early in the pandemic, which suggested a completely different approach to various aspects of the pandemic response which have all proved to be far better in retrospect.

In the coming days and perhaps hours, various media and agencies will be offering summaries of the report’s findings (including the summaries you’ll find here at Todayville.com). Undoubtedly there are AI versions already. However this is one small book you should seriously consider reading yourself from cover to cover. After a quick scan I can guarantee you it would be very difficult to overstate just how important this review is to future pandemic responses and to our health care system in general.

More on this report in the coming days.. and undoubtedly weeks and months ahead!

Do take the time to read this for yourself. It’s really too important to only know what others will tell you about this. Undoubtedly there will be extremely differing opinions. Perhaps the most important conclusion of all will be one of the recommendations made in this review… the absolute necessity for a full public inquiry into Alberta’s pandemic response.

You can find the report here: open.alberta.ca/publications/a