By Thomas B. Hadden III

On October 1, I was honored to receive a call from John Skinner, chief executive officer of SWANA, asking if I could attend a summit at the White House two days later to discuss the local positive impact of the proposed landfill gas (LFG) tax credits in the energy bill, HR 6, currently in conference committee. I quickly made arrangements for the trip. I and 10 others from across the country were to meet with Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham and White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card.

Each of us was given a few minutes to discus our particular issue. My focus was to bring home how LFG tax credits have a direct effect on individual facilities - in this case, Metro Waste Authority (MWA) in Des Moines, IA. Since 1994, MWA has had a successful public/private partnership with Waste Management of Iowa Inc. and MidAmerican Energy to run our Metro Methane Recovery Facility. This partnership is a direct result of the now-expired LFG tax credits. The facility uses the methane generated by the decomposing garbage in our Metro Park East Landfill to create electricity. (Last fall, this landfill received SWANA's Gold Award for Landfill Management Excellence, due in part to the success of our Metro Methane Recovery Facility.) The plant now is running at capacity, producing 6,400 kW of energy and consuming 3.2 million ft.3 of LFG per day, or the equivalent of 112,000 barrels of oil per year. The methane facility provides a consistent, reliable source of energy for approximately 8,000–10,000 residents, businesses, and schools in the surrounding area.

Since coming on-line, the facility has had a reliability of more than 99.2%, which clearly is one of the best dependability ratings of all alternative energy sources. MWA is very proud to be a leader in this industry, and we are glad to work with SWANA and others to promote this little-discussed domestic energy source.

Without the LFG tax credits included in HR 6, future expansion of our generating facility will not be cost-effective, making it difficult to justify the needed capital investment for such an expansion. As a result, we might need to consider alternatives, such as flaring off the gas.

No pun intended, but what a waste! In the state of Iowa, currently there are three sites that were made feasible by the last round of tax credits. There are 12 sites across the state and more than 600 across the country that could come on-line with the expansion of Sections 45 and 29 tax credits.

So why isn't Congress acting to expand them? Cost, of course. If you look at a total cost/benefit allowance, however, LFG tax credits are a very effective use of alternative energy. The beauty of utilizing LFG is that it is a dependable energy source that takes a greenhouse gas and produces energy via either generation and/or direct use. The benefits brought by the reduction of the amount of greenhouse gas produced by those 600 potential facilities are the same as planting 18 million ac. of forest per year.

I had the opportunity to remind administration representatives why it's important for Congress to expand LFG tax credits in order to help diversity our domestic energy resources. I had the pleasure of receiving a reply to my thank-you e-mail that confirms the administration does support the inclusion of LFG tax credits in the energy bill. Whether methane is captured and used or simply flared, landfills across the country will continue to create this gas. By using the methane gas generated from landfills to create electricity and supplement our residential and commercial usage, we can indeed take lemons and make lemonade.

Thomas B. Hadden III is executive director with Metro Waste Authority in Des Moines, IA, and a member of MSW Management's Editorial Advisory Board.

MSW - January/February 2004