Gov. Jon Huntsman took a break Feb. 12 from Capitol Hill mania and spent the afternoon at an Orem gas station.

He was joined by Orem Mayor Jerry Washburn and Ron Jibson, president and CEO of Questar Gas, to announce plans to make Interstate 15 into a "compressed natural gas corridor."

Huntsman told reporters at the Sinclair station in west Orem, one of Utah County's three natural gas stations, that the state's infrastructure and natural resources position it to lead a nationwide transition away from foreign oil. That will keep money in the United States and reduce emissions drastically, he said.

"It's got everything, and we are the epicenter of this change," he said. "Everybody knows we can do it. It's out there, it's achievable -- we just have to get smart about it."

Part of getting smart is to "fortify the infrastructure that exists," Huntsman said. To that end, the state is expanding capacity in 2009 at four stations, including a new 700-million-cubic-foot compressor at the Orem one. It will also open new sites in the south part of the state, including one near the I-15/Interstate 70 junction and another near St. George. He said the vision is to make it feasible to drive I-15 from the Idaho border to the Arizona border in a CNG vehicle.

"We'll have the ability to go from north to south, with the infrastructure to make that a reality," he said. "I would imagine a time in the not-so-distant future when you can go from Denver to Los Angeles."

Following his address, Huntsman filled the Chevy Suburban he arrived in with natural gas for 88 cents a gallon. He paused to draw a contrast between that rate and the going gasoline rate -- currently $1.68 in Provo-Orem, and "likely to go up significantly in the future," he said.

Jibson's company owns 19 of the 25 CNG filling stations in the state, while the remaining six are owned directly by the state. He said the sheer amount of natural gas in Utah will make it a driving force during the transition, perhaps even in other states.

"We are swimming in natural gas," he said. "We have large, abundant reservoirs of natural gas that are yet to be tapped."

But Jibson said other organizations need to make similar commitments to natural gas before the dream can be realized. Several companies, including Coca-Cola and Sysco, are already running CNG vehicles for some tasks in Utah.

"No one group can make this happen," he said. "The first thing that we recognize is that this is a partnership."

Washburn spoke only briefly to reaffirm his city's commitment to the project.

"We are here in the name of conservation," he said. "We look forward with enthusiasm and eagerness to being a green state."

Huntsman said the natural gas initiative will be a priority when governors from the West congregate in Utah for a June meeting.