LNG program planned for LBCC

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LNG program planned for LBCC

By Kevin Butler

Long Beach City College has received $1.2 million in grants to start a new program training students and professionals on liquefied natural gas technology used to fuel "green" trucks.

The program also will allow Cabrillo High School students to learn about the technology at a course taught on campus by LBCC faculty for community college credit.

The college began the program at the urging of Westport Innovations Inc., an LNG engine manufacturer, because trucking companies that made up the firm's customers lack workers previously trained to handle LNG technology, said Gail Schwandner, LBCC dean of work force development.

The community college offered to start a program to fill that work force need, she said.

"There is nothing that is more exciting for us than to see our students go into a program that (involves) new technology and that is meeting the needs of employers in our region," she said.

The college will receive a two-year, $600,000 grant from the California Community College Chancellor's Office for the program.

The remainder of the $1.2 million in money and in-kind services will come from industry partners such as Westport Innovations Inc., truck maker Kenworth, the Port of Long Beach and other sources.

The college this year will begin training about 300 technicians and mechanics in LNG technology, she said.

Next year, its first crop of students will graduate from the program, she

said. In the fall of 2009, the Cabrillo High School program - which does not involve direct handling of LNG fuel - will start, she said.

The use of LNG to fuel trucks will increase because the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles are phasing out all pre-2007 trucks over the next four years.

Port authorities hope that at least 50 percent of trucks at the ports will be using LNG or other low-polluting fuel as part of the two ports' joint Clean Air Action Plan.