Dairy growth has Idaho thinking cow-pie power

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008542038_dungpower20m.html

Originally published Saturday, December 20, 2008 at 12:00 AM

Dairy growth has Idaho thinking cow-pie power

Tax breaks and other state incentives are proposed to help launch a manure-methane industry of digesters and refineries to produce natural gas.

By JOHN MILLER

The Associated Press

ASHLEY SMITH / AP

BOISE, Idaho — That odor wafting from 550,000 cows that make up Idaho's growing dairy herd smells like energy independence and economic development to state energy czar Paul Kjellander.

Idaho is now America's No. 3 milk producer, trailing only California and Wisconsin. That also means it's cow-pie central.

Mountains of manure are fueling Kjellander's dream of pipelines crisscrossing the Snake River plain, linking manure digesters at dairies large and small to central refineries that would produce natural gas pure enough for homes or cars. Processed manure would be sold as plant bedding. Dairies could also fire turbines, shooting electricity into the power grid. And they could sell carbon credits in schemes to slash greenhouse-gas emissions.

Kjellander, who heads up Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter's Office of Energy Resources, is pushing a package of income-tax credits, property-tax waivers and other incentives in the 2009 Legislature starting Jan. 12 to transform Idaho's southern heartland into a methane mecca.

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[Vogon_Glory]

1. I've Thought About Manure Digesters Driving by Feedlots

I've thought of manure digesters passing by cattle feed lots on cross-country drives. C'mon people, that manure is an f'ing pollutant! It harbors some truly nasty bacteria and viruses and gets into our ground water. It's time to get over GOPster/reactionary head-in-the-sand public policy and deal with the problem. Using the stuff to run electrical generators is a swell idea!

[IDemo]

2. An article from 2 1/2 years ago:

MAY 3, 2006
Wild-Catting in the Cow Patties
Tapping Idaho's smellier natural resource



The defeat of Sempra Energy's plans for a major coal-fired power plant in southern Idaho was celebrated during Earth Day celebrations as far away as San Francisco last week. Many Idahoans were proud of the efforts of Senator Clint Stennett and others in the Idaho Legislature who stood up to the energy giant and sent them packing.

But the question remains: How will Idaho provide energy needs for its growing population?

Intrepid Technology and Resources, a home-grown, publicly traded company from Idaho Falls, would like to capitalize on the recent interest in renewable energy by using what they see as a vast, untapped natural resource: cow manure.

Intrepid has plans to transform millions of tons of the stuff through bio-digester conversion into pipeline-quality methane gas to heat Idaho homes beginning next summer. A new 15-year contract with Intermountain Gas Company to accomplish this feat, beginning in 2007, marks the first time a biogas company will sell its product commercially.

If cow patties are the new black gold, southern Idaho may be the equivalent of a Texas oil field.

more-> http://www.boiseweekly.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A161471