I'm all for it. I don't know why the sewage disposal plant isn't doing the same. The city of Modesto, CA was using methane gas from their sewage plant to power city vehicles as early as 1985.
One man's trash is another man's treasure, and nowhere is that more true than at the Deans Bridge Road landfill in south Augusta.
By year's end, the city will have made about $1.5 million on the sale of methane gas to kaolin company Unimin Corp. of Hephzibah and still have an unknown amount of gas unused. That's why an Augusta Commission committee voted Monday to pay CH2M Hill up to $350,000 to find out how much gas is there, the best use for it and a design for utilizing it.
"We have more gas than the mine is actually utilizing," said Mark Johnson, the city's solid waste director. "We want to know what's next and how we can best utilize that resource. Is it generating power? Is it putting it into a natural gas pipeline? Is it trying to draw in another industry that might be able to use that and bring jobs to the area? There's a lot of options, and we just want to look at them all."
Included in the study will be the capital cost of upgrading the system to generate extra gas and identifying ways to use it in city vehicles, Mr. Johnson said.
The gas, which forms from decomposing garbage, also can be sold to power companies.
Engineering Committee Chairman Jimmy Smith said the study is timely because of today's high energy costs.
Reach Sylvia Cooper at (706) 823-3228 or sylvia.cooper@augustachronicle.com.
ALSO MONDAY
The Public Services Committee voted to:
- Suspend the business license of the Super 8 Motel on Boy Scout Road on Sept. 8 for failure to pay $34,758 in hotel-motel taxes. Commissioners also approved placing a lien on the property so that it cannot be sold until the taxes are paid.
- Replace a section of public docks at Riverfront Marina because of safety concerns. The work will cost $44,920.
Comments
I'm all for it. I don't know why the sewage disposal plant isn't doing the same. The city of Modesto, CA was using methane gas from their sewage plant to power city vehicles as early as 1985.
I know a farmer in Calif is using his methane gas produced from manures to generate and fully operate his farm without so much as a bill! This could be what this city needs to help people with their power bills!
Set up a refinery at the footsteps of our city commission. Should be an excellent source of methane gas-from all the BS bandied about!
Lets see, PUBLIC DOCKS at Riverfront marina. Has anyone seen any change in the boats down there? Last time I looked it appears the same good old people are using the docks to park their boats. Why didn't we say to them "Folks the docks are in need of work and your cost is going up to pay the cost". It is time that we made these type of facilities pay the cost of their operation,or close up shop, period. And we should be doing the same with any other organization receiving funds from the taxpayer.
Well alright, we have gas we are selling, but we need a study to see what we should be doing with the gas. Another great plan by our elected officials. Its funny I didn't see this on the budget as an income for the land fill, but hey that budget document isn't for us, its for ?????????
Right on, 426. If we could design a mobile refinery, we could just follow the politicians around and harvest methane.
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