Mantachie Gets First Self-Serve Natural Gas Pump in N.E. Miss.

Mantachie Natural Gas PumpMANTACHIE, Miss. (Itawamba County Times) — “This is why this works,” said Mike Horton, manager of North Mississippi Natural Gas in Mantachie, pointing to his computer monitor.

On-screen was a map. A thick blue line traced the route between Memphis and Birmingham, and smack in the middle of that line was a little flag. Horton pointed to it.

“Look at Mantachie,” he said. “We’re halfway between Memphis and Birmingham. We’re within four miles of I-22. And we have the gas supply.”

Mantachie, he said, is the perfect location for a self-serve natural gas pump. When the company opens its fast fill pump to the public in mid-May or so, it will be the first of its kind in North Mississippi and only the third in the state. The other two natural gas pumping stations are in Jackson. For the growing number of people who drive vehicles powered by natural gas, the self-serve pumping station is a big deal. Consequently, there’s a good chance it will be a big deal for the town of Mantachie, too.

One of the current disadvantages to using natural gas as a legitimate replacement for gasoline is the sparse number of stations where drivers can fill up on natural gas … especially in this area. That means travelers have to map out their routes carefully when traveling in natural gas-powered vehicles.

“People plan their trips [around natural gas stations]; they come through Mantachie all the time,” Horton said. “While they’re going to Atlanta or traveling to Florida, they will come right through here. They will spend their money here. Those people would have never even heard of Mantachie without this station … couldn’t even spell the town’s name.

“The town of Mantachie will benefit from this,” Horton added. “That’s money coming from people who don’t live here. Outside money.”

The CNG pump will look fairly familiar to anyone who’s ever seen a fuel pump … or just about everybody. And just like the average fuel pump, people with natural gas powered vehicles will be able to pull up to the pump, swipe a credit card and fill up their vehicle 24/7.

Right now, the company can fuel a vehicle that runs off of natural gas, but the operation of the pump has to be handled by an employee, making it less than ideal for travelers. This new fast fill pump, however, will change that.

“This CNG station will give us a consumer base we don’t have,” he continued. “It will be the biggest customer in our gas district.”

The average natural gas powered vehicle will take three or four minutes to fill up, he said.

“It’s about the same amount of time as it takes to fill up at the fuel pump,” he said.

Natural gas is often touted as the next big vehicle fuel source, the ideal successor to petroleum — especially in Mississippi, where it’s abundant. Certainly, the advantages are many: Natural gas is cheap, abundant and clean. During a 2012 public address, Gov. Phil Bryant (who is expected to attend the grand opening of the Mantachie pump) even called for Mississippi “to capitalize on our position and dominate the natural gas stage at the national level.”

Horton has long been a very vocal supporter of the move to running vehicles off natural gas. His office was the first in the county to have its entire fleet of vehicles running on natural gas, and he just recently purchased a personal vehicle that runs off the stuff.

It’s a growing trend, he said, estimating there to be around 15 or so vehicles in Itawamba County that run off of natural gas. Evidence points to that number growing as the conversion technology becomes cheaper and factory-built natural gas cars more common.

For now, it seems Mantachie may be ahead of the curve in the future of fuel.

“Having a CNG pump here will put Mississippi ahead of most states … Northeast Mississippi is jumping ahead of a lot of places in the U.S. with this station,” Horton said. “Mississippi is finally at the forefront of something positive.”

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