With a rally that kicks off in the Bluff City and ends in Dollywood, Memphis is showcasing its newest public refueling station for compressed natural gas.

A fleet of 20 trucks leaves Memphis the week of May 18 for a five city rally across Tennessee with stops in Trenton, Nashville and Athens before reaching Dollywood in Pigeon Forge. The rally highlights the advantages of compressed natural gas as an alternative fuel source which is roughly 30 percent cheaper than diesel fuel and reduces carbon dioxide emissions by up to 30 percent.

The celebration starts at 10 a.m. May 18 with the grand opening of South Center Fueling Station at 3071 S. Center Rd. The public filling station is a part of Memphis Light, Gas and Water’s South Service Center which is off Brooks Road and U.S. 61. The public is invited.

"This is our second compressed natural gas station in Memphis and the 11th in the state," said Michael Taylor, MLGW’s Assistant Manager of Commercial and Industrial Customer Care. "With compressed gas, it is just a cleaner fuel than diesel or gasoline. That contributes to lower greenhouse gas emissions and cleaner air in the city."

In addition to dignitaries with the Tennessee Gas Association and the Greater Memphis Chamber of Commerce, MLGW and city officials are honoring three local transportation companies – Inland Waste, Dillon Transport and Swift Transportation – which are leading the way in the local alternative fuels industry and have a growing fleet of natural gas trucks.

Inland has a fleet of 24 garbage trucks with natural gas engines. Dillon just recently received a $500,000 state TDOT grant to help offset the cost of converting from diesel to compressed gas engines for its trucks. Swift is considered MLGW’s flagship customer of compressed gas as 70 percent of the South Center’s business is from Swift.

"By having the rally," Taylor said, “We are trying to educate the public about the benefits of natural compressed gas for the environment as well as your wallet.”

MLGW is the largest three-service public power utility in the nation, serving more than 421,000 customers in Memphis and Shelby County.