[GreenYes Archives] -
[Thread Index] -
[Date Index]
[Date Prev] - [Date Next] - [Thread Prev] - [Thread Next]
[GreenYes] Why not pay landfills to collect methane?
- Subject: [GreenYes] Why not pay landfills to collect methane?
- From: "Bill Sheehan" <zerowaste@grrn.org>
- Date: Tue, 24 Jul 2001 17:02:58 -0400
MIKE MORROW SAID
I'm not sure we should stop tax energy tax credits to
landfills. Methane is a major greenhouse gas which is
largely vented to the atmosphere in our part of the
country. Leachate recirculation with capture of
methane for energy production can bring short term
stabilization of landfills and reduce methane.
PETER ANDERSON REPLIES:
Mike-
Bill passed along your note (below) to me.
Obviously, IF organics -- the source of the methane --
continues going into landfills, then as much of the gas
which can be captured should, and that which is
captured should add energy recovery.
But, that is NOT the same as saying we should pay
landfill operators to do that. We don't pay landfills to
install composite liners, leachate collection systems,
monitoring wells or to be sited away from perched
groundwater tables. We require it. Why is proper gas
management being treated any differently. And, if we
acquiesce here, where does it all end. For there is not
enough money in the world to "encourage" all of the
correct environmental behaviors currently mandated by
rule.
This is all the more important in this context,
because, number 1: contrary to public perception,
organics cannot be safely managed when they are
discarded in the ground in the first place. Just as the
European Commission has already done, the obsolete
and hazardous practice of landfilling our food scraps,
yard trimmings and unrecovered paper is a dangerous
relic of the 20th century (see explanation below), and
like throwing garbage out tenement windows into the
streets of America's cities during the 19th century, must
be phased out in the 21st century.
Number 2: there is a simple, obvious and elegant
solution that eliminates the need to continue landfilling
organics: Source separate our organic material for
composting, just as we already do for our recyclables,
and use the product to help restore soil fertility to our
land. Why isn't that being done now? Because we in
the recycling and environmental communities have
permitted one subsidy to be piled on top of another
subsidy until the price of landfilling has been so heavily
subsidized that expanded diversion efforts can't seem to
compete. This new subsidy for energy recovery is just
one more straw to break the environment's back.
Number 3: a close examination of the use of an
earlier subsidy for landfill gas energy recovery which
expired in 1999 shows that a substantial part of the
subsidies went to those parts of the country where
electricity prices are highest, and, hence, where there is
no need to encourage energy recovery since it already
pays for itself. That is to say, the tax credit went to
subsidize landfilling at the expense of diversion which
competes directly with disposal costs. The all to blatant
nature of the subsidy is further shown by the fact that a
credit is also provided for energy recovery systems that
have already been installed.
Bottom line:
>These tax credits are doing less than has been
thought to encourage energy recovery from landfill gas,
much of which will occur anyway
>Regardless of that, the source of landfill gas-- the
organic fraction -- is too difficult to manage safely in
the ground
> What the subsidy for energy recovery really does is
make the real solution, composting, seem to be more
expensive than perpetuating obsolete waste
management practices.
Peter Anderson
[GRRN will be adding shortly a new section to www.grrn.org
on LANDFILLS, including such hot topics as:
-- landfill gas tax credits
-- the failure of Subtitle D 'state of the art' dry tombs designs
-- problems with proposed wet dump designs ('bioreactors')
-- problems with other mixed garbage processing schemes
-- why Europe is moving towards banning land disposal
-- alternatives to treating organics mixed with toxics
-- landfills and zero waste
>> stay tuned... Bill S.]
[GreenYes Archives] -
[Date Index] -
[Thread Index]
[Date Prev] - [Date Next] - [Thread Prev] - [Thread Next]