Posted on 09/21/2014 6:34:28 AM PDT by george76
Four years ago, Kirk Swallow received state money to set up a compressed natural gas filling facility at the Rifle Shell station he co-owns.
The Colorado Energy Office, then under Gov. Bill Ritter and known as the Governor’s Energy Office, gave Swallow’s company a $675,000 grant — money from fines collected from companies that violated state regulations. Swallow said he chipped in about $300,000.
But, in June, Swallow had to permanently shut down the CNG pumps at 101 Railroad Ave., in Rifle, Colo. He said he was losing money because of increased competition, excessive electricity fees to run the pumps and not enough demand.
“I wasn’t making any money,” said Swallow, who maintains in the end he was losing $2,000 to $4,000 a month on his CNG pumps. “I was selling like 7,000 gallons a month (initially), and that dropped down to 2,000.”
Around the same time Swallow was closing down the CNG pumps the state lost $675,000 on, the state energy office was ready to hand eight other station owners up to $500,000 each in tax money to open CNG pumps.
And the tax money for CNG and alternative fuels is expected to flow to private businesses at least through 2017.
The energy office plans to spend a total of $15 million, obtained from federal clean-air funds, to build CNG and other alternative-fuel stations in Colorado. The Regional Air Quality Council will distribute an additional $15 million for the purchase of alternative-fuel fleet vehicles.
Swallow said at this point there isn’t enough demand for CNG to be giving out that kind of money.
“I think it’s cracked,” Swallow said. “I built a station, and no one came.”
(Excerpt) Read more at watchdog.org ...
Liberals love handing out Other People’s Money to cronies. Exhibit A: Obama and Solyndra.
Another failed Colorado energy policy.
Any chance the state will stop the fraudulent grants to the others in the pipeline? NAH
Rick Perry built 11 of these NG stations along the "Texas Clean Transportation Triangle", which means DFW to ASA to Houston. In 2011.
Boone has put a bunch of stations in.
You need to understand. This article is published by Watchdog.org, which is a front for the Koch Brothers, who are in the gasoline, diesel, and ethanol business, and don't want customers to use natural gas.
Koch Brothers, who are in the gasoline, diesel, and ethanol business, and don’t want customers to use natural gas.
Evidently the customers did now want natural gas either. Almost $1M for a gas station is insane.
Evidently there was not enough market between the Denver cluster and Utah cluster of stations to stay in business.
Liberals? What about Texas?
I don’t like governments supporting private energy business. I am not a liberal I am a Libertarian and such am conservative and against government interference in business.
If you want to be in the CNG business, you need to do sales work to the fleet operators.
Are you saying that the State of Colorado should take over the natural gas operations in Colorado?
I mentioned CNG business, sales work, and fleet operators. I can't figure out how you got from those phrases to the State of Colorado taking over natural gas operations.
State out $675K grant but still plans to give out millions more in tax money ( Colorado )
Colorado is paying for natural gas stations.
You say If you want to be in the CNG business, you need to do sales work to the fleet operators.
It looks like the state of Colorado wants to be in the natural gas business and work with fleet operators.
This is a function of Capitalism not Government.
It also benefits the nation to use domestic fuel rather than importing it, so there are subsidies for that
But as an ideologue, you prefer pollution and imported fuel.
“But as an ideologue”
Perhaps you need to visit the FR homepage for a refresher on what the purpose of this site is.
No doubt others states got their share of this same money. And it was appropriated by Congress.
An ideologist would probably say that the state should turn down the money, let California or Iowa have it. But the realists and pragmatists welcome the federal money, and say send more.
As I said. You need a refresher course on the purpose of FR.
by “realist” and “pragmatist” you mean the statists and spendthrifts, right?
Government should not be funding private business or organizations, period
Let them spend their own money on these businesses, not taxpayers money
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