[vc_row animation=””][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]Today’s post contributed by Kevin Lynn, Linde Corporation[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row animation=””][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]It was a dream almost from the get-go, wasn’t it?  From the first moment we found out we had vast natural gas reserves—right under our feet in Pennsylvania!—most of us had a vague hope that someday gas underground would translate into gas in our cars and houses.  Someday the money we spend to fuel our vehicles won’t go overseas, it will stay right here at home.  In Susquehanna County that dream is inching closer to reality with each passing day.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row animation=””][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]Cabot is constructing its own compressed natural gas (CNG) station just south of Montrose, PA.  The facility should be on line, dispensing Pennsylvania gas to Pennsylvania vehicles, by mid-October.  It is a day which will make history; I wonder how many of us will notice.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row animation=””][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_single_image css_animation=”” image=”1688″ border_color=”” img_link_large=”” link=”http://cabotsusq.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/102_1277.jpg” img_link_target=”_self” img_size=”full”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row animation=””][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]“The project went well,” said Linde’s project manager Joe Jugan.  “Cabot kept adding to the project for more capacity.”[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row animation=””][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]This is a major undertaking and the CNG station is just a part of it.  After all, if you have a station to dispense compressed natural gas, you have to put it in vehicles and machines which can actually use natural gas.   Cabot is planning for both.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row animation=””][vc_column width=”1/2″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image css_animation=”” image=”1685″ border_color=”” img_link_large=”” link=”http://cabotsusq.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/powered-by-natural-gas1.jpg” img_link_target=”_self” img_size=”medium”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row animation=””][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]First, they bought a dozen new trucks with “dual use” fuel capacity.  These are vehicles which will run on regular gas (possibly from OPEC) or natural gas (possibly from Susquehanna County).  Second and most important, Cabot thought big.  This CNG station is fully capable of fueling natural gas tanker trucks.  Those trucks will be able to transport the natural gas to the well sites, where the gas we harvested from underground will be used to power the drilling rigs to harvest more gas from underground.  Cabot’s goal is to use its own homemade energy as much as possible to run its own drilling equipment.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row animation=””][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]Make no mistake; this modest little CNG station will be historic even if we don’t immediately understand its significance; even if you have as much trouble finding the facility as I did.  After all, this place marks the spot where we went from the “idea” of natural gas for our vehicles to the reality of a new marketplace for our home-harvested energy.  If you like history you might be interested to know that the first dedicated gas station opened for business in St. Louis in 1905.  Before that, people bought their gas—where else?—in drug stores….[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row animation=””][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]We’ve all heard that age-old question, “Which came first, the chicken or the egg?”  According to Darwin, the egg came first.  However, in the Marcellus Era, it’s a brand new question and the answer could go either way.  Which came first, the new gas we could find locally, or a new way to use the gas locally?  From my perspective, what came first was the catalyst.  Someone had to play matchmaker and put the new source of energy together with new ways to use that energy.  Who came first?  I say it was Cabot.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]