Pickup promotes propane plans

WASILLA — Don Benson can’t help but get excited about the pickup he recently went tooling around town in.

“It’s an awesome truck,” he said.

If you can ignore the multiple decals covering the thing and the tank in the bed, the pickup looks like a standard F-250. But that tank and those decals are signs of exactly what has Benson excited: This pickup runs on propane.

But, at least to hear Benson tell it, that’s where the difference between this pickup and standard ones end.

“It doesn’t drive any different,” Benson said. “There’s absolutely no difference under the hood.”

Benson sits on the board of the Alaska Natural Gas Development Authority. He had the truck in town a week ago on the heels of a propane conference ANGDA held in Anchorage from March 31 to April 1. The pickup had been on the slope all winter, in an attempt to prove that fears that propane wouldn’t perform in extremely cold temperatures were unfounded. Benson said he was convinced.

So the pickup can take an Alaska winter. How else does it stack up to gasoline-powered vehicles?

The propane goes into the tank in much the same way gasoline does; just hook a hose up to it. The fuel tank doesn’t have to ride in the bed. It can be slung in the undercarriage.

Benson said one of the biggest selling points is the fuel cost. Propane is significantly cheaper and gives about the same mileage per gallon. There’s even a 50-cent per-gallon rebate from the federal government.

Cash-strapped communities Outside, most notably in California, have noticed this and converted buses and other publicly owned vehicles to propane.

The gas isn’t any more dangerous than gasoline, he said. It’s actually less flammable and ruptured tanks don’t explode so much as release the gas into the atmosphere. Touch off a propane leak and you get a fire but the fire burns itself out. There aren’t as many environmental risks with natural gas plants as there are with oil refineries. There’s no such thing as a natural gas spill.

But while he was excited enough about the pickup to give just about every mayor and community leader he could buttonhole in the Valley a test drive, Benson and ANGDA have other things on their minds.

“I’m not trying to sell trucks,” he said. “ANGDA is trying to get a natural gas tap on the slope.”

The idea is to get gas to supply to Alaskan communities. ANGDA would build a plant to process the gas into propane for use as an affordable alternative to diesel.

The propane pickup proves that there are plenty of applications for it. Aside from those California buses, Benson said, it can be put in big rigs. Benson said he’s even heard of a super fast, propane-powered Ford Mustang. The press release announcing ANGDA’s propane conference noted uses like home heating and cooking.

“Combining the energy needs in rural Alaska with the potential larger scale opportunities in the mining industry, industrial applications and fleet services creates a very robust and compelling business opportunity,” according to the press release.

He said that when you look at the myriad options people are exploring for taking advantage of Alaska’s natural gas supplies, all of them seem to entail years and years of planning and work. Putting a plant on the slope doesn’t.

“This can all come together in six months (to) two years,” he said. “We’re just being down-to-earth.”

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.