Cummins has found God again – this time at the bottom of a gas well. The diesel peddlers are preaching redemption through methane, promising salvation for fleets and sinners alike. “Cleaner, cheaper, better” they chant, like monks selling indulgences to hauliers. It’s the same old racket: slap a halo on a tailpipe and hope no one smells the bullshit.
The Clean Illusion
That “75 per cent cleaner” claim gets waved around like a communion wafer. But it’s only about nitrogen oxides – the legal minimum to keep the EPA off their back. The real climate story sits in the fine print: methane, carbon, and creative accounting. Cummins won’t mention those, because they’re the ghosts rattling inside every “green” press release.
Methane Slip
Natural gas engines leak – it’s what they do. Methane slides past pistons, dribbles from compressors, burps out of valves. Each invisible puff cooks the planet harder than a century of diesel exhaust. It’s the quiet killer of the climate, a slow suffocation dressed up as progress. The PR line calls it clean energy. The atmosphere calls it a slow-motion arson.
The RNG Fairytale
“Renewable natural gas” sounds like something you’d buy at Whole Foods. In practice, it’s cow farts with a marketing department. The industry tells you it’s the future; it’s really a glorified tax scheme where manure lagoons print carbon credits and everyone gets rich pretending they’ve saved the world. Methane from factory farms gets blessed as “negative carbon”, which is a bit like calling a landfill “fine dining” because it attracts gulls.
The Price Trick
Cummins and its apostles brag about saving 27 per cent over diesel. What they don’t say is that you paid for it. Subsidies, credits, kickbacks – government welfare for corporations with better lobbyists than morals. They call it market efficiency. It’s more like robbing the till and thanking the cashier for her service.
The Waste Management Showpiece
And then there’s Waste Management – the landfill messiah. Fourteen thousand trucks guzzling the same gas that oozes from their rubbish heaps. They call it circular economy. I call it a dog eating its own vomit and charging admission. Ninety-three million dollars “saved”, mostly from green credits and PR contracts. The rest is methane dressed as virtue. They brag about “renewable natural gas”, as if anyone should feel inspired by burning decomposing trash. The whole operation is a landfill symphony – Cummins on drums, Waste Management on lead vocals, belting out hymns about sustainability while the crowd chokes on the smell.
Reality Under Load
Ever tried hauling eighty thousand pounds through Oklahoma on this stuff? Good luck. You’ll need half a dozen fuelling stops and a therapist by Tulsa. The range is worse, the tanks are heavier, and the “infrastructure” is a scattering of lonely pumps surrounded by tumbleweed. Diesel may be dirty, but at least it doesn’t strand you in a gas desert.
Supply and Demand
Even if every cow, landfill, and sewage pit in America ran full tilt, there still wouldn’t be enough renewable gas to feed a tenth of Cummins’ dreams. So they cheat – selling fossil gas with a “renewable” sticker slapped on top. It’s carbon laundering, plain and simple. The fleets get certificates, the accountants get bonuses, and the air gets worse.
The Verdict
Cummins hasn’t found the future. They’ve just bottled another flavour of decay and called it innovation. Diesel, gas, RNG – it’s all the same poison with a different perfume. They’re not leading the transition; they’re looting the corpse.
Lee Thompson – Founder, The Cummins Accountability Project
Source: Natural gas lineup gives fleets more options to cut costs – Cummins