Ozinga Energy has added a fourth CNG filling site to its Chicago-area network. The new facility, located just north of O'Hare International Airport in Des Plaines, Ill., brings two fast-fill pumps for cars, light vehicles and trucks to the area.

Located at 200 Jarvis Ave, the site is a concrete plant where Ozinga fuels its fleet of 40 concrete mixers. The CNG infrastructure was already in place, so the company decided to open a public filling site.

"We wanted to share this resource with the community," said Marty Ozinga IV, president of Ozinga Bros., during the opening ceremony of the Des Plaines location. "We want to be seen as good neighbors in this community, and fueling our trucks with CNG, the clean, domestic energy source that also happens to make for very quiet truck engines, is a step in that direction."

The grand opening Tuesday was host to some attendees of the Green Fleet Conference in nearby Schaumburg, Ill., where Ozinga Bros. also will be honored as one of HDT's Top 50 Green Fleets for 2014.

Ozinga said he hopes the addition of the Des Plaines station will bring others closer to using natural gas rather than diesel for their truck fleets.

"You have to have a source of fuel before you can start bringing in vehicles," he said. "This site is now open, and we're hoping others will take notice and start looking seriously at CNG as a fuel source."

The Ozinga companies began using CNG four years ago and now have 150 vehicles using the fuel, including the 40 concrete mixers based in Des Plaines.

Tim Ozinga, the company's communications director, told Truckinginfo.com they can fuel the 40 trucks with slow-fill dispensers in about 4-6 hours depending on how much fuel is needed.

"We have fast-fill pumps as well to take care of the outside business," he notes. "The availability of a CNG fast-fill in this area has opened up new territories for CNG-fueled companies that may not have had the range to get here and back home again. We are seeing a growing number of outside fleets fueling at our Chicago area stations."

The company originally partnered with the Chicago Area Clean Cities coalition to deploy 14 CNG-powered concrete mixers in the area. Those first trucks broke ground for the more than 100 additional trucks that followed through 2014. In late 2012, Ozinga opened one of Chicago's first privately owned natural gas fueling stations serving local businesses and government agencies.

In addition to the new Des Plaines site, three more are in operation in the Chicago area: 2255 S. Lumber Street in Chinatown, 18825 Old LaGrange Rd. in Mokena, and 400 Blaine Street in Gary, Ind. Five more locations are in the advanced planning stage: Chicago, Alsip, Hampshire, Lemont and Northside.