[GRRN] subsidies for burning poultry poop

Brenda Platt (bplatt@ilsr.org)
Mon, 18 Oct 1999 14:23:41 +0000

At the federal and state levels, policymakers are considering granting
handsome subsidies for the burning of poultry manure to generate
electricity. At the federal level, the proposed Poultry Energy Power
Act (PEEP) offers a 1.7-cent per kilowatt-hour (kWh) tax credit to power
plants that use poultry litter to generate electricity. A similar
measure offering a 1.5-cent per kWh subsidy was defeated by the
Minnesota legislature last spring but recently Minnesota’s largest
utility has proposed that ratepayers be required to pay a higher price
for electricity generated from poultry manure.

Unfortunately, these public policies have been proposed before a
comprehensive analysis of the poultry manure issue has been undertaken.
Thus the public is being asked to support subsidies for a specific
"solution" before understanding the nature of the problem and the
comparative cost of alternative solutions. Deliberative decision
making demands that we look before we leap.

ILSR has a short paper that explores these issues and makes some
recommendations. If you're interested in it, let me know.

Brenda Platt

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Brenda A. Platt
Director, Materials Recovery
Institute for Local Self-Reliance
2425 18th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20009
Ph (202) 232-4108 fax (202) 332-0463
Web: <http://www.ilsr.org>
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