Officials Hope to Transform Garbage Into Energy

Prompted by the state’s power crisis and the pressing need to reduce U.S. dependency on Middle East oil, Ventura County leaders want to step up their use of a largely untapped energy source: garbage.

The Board of Supervisors this week agreed to pursue the idea of channeling methane gas from two landfills to fuel generators now running off the state power grid. It also will consider building plants that could convert waste left over from recycling facilities into electricity.

“This is a watershed event for Ventura County,” Supervisor John Flynn said. “When you think about what could be done with this waste, it almost has the makings of an industrial revolution.”

Bioenergy Represents a Renewable Power

Kay Martin, the county’s deputy director of public works, said a good opportunity exists now, with technology in bioenergy rapidly developing and various factions of the county--government, military and academia--interested in exploring the issue.

Bioenergy is a type of renewable power (anything not linked to polluting fuels such as coal and oil) derived from biological material, including trash and agricultural waste. It has become an increasingly important source of energy as electricity demand skyrockets and available space in landfills shrinks.

And at least one product--fuel made from biological material rather than from crude oil--has received heightened attention following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on New York and the Pentagon and the unfolding military action in Afghanistan.

“The Middle East is more unstable today than at any time since the Gulf War, and at the same time, a higher percentage of our energy demand is met from the Middle East each year,” said Monte Shaw, a spokesman for the Washington, D.C.-based Renewable Fuels Assn. “They are putting that money into buying weapons and supporting terrorism. It’s our insatiable demand for imported oil that drives the ability to do that.”

Locally, Martin said for the past four years she has been looking for alternative energy sources and ways to limit the amount of trash going to the county’s landfills. She called the board’s endorsement of the bioenergy concept a big step forward, and expects results during the coming year.

Efforts will include:

* Recruiting into the county businesses that produce bioenergy products--biodiesel, ethanol and electricity--from solid waste.

* Exploring ways to help Cal State Channel Islands and the Port Hueneme Navy base speed progress on bioenergy projects already in the works.

* Working with the Ventura County Farm Bureau to reduce growers’ costs of disposing of agriculture waste by feeding it to bioenergy facilities.

* Creating a committee that could help streamline the permit process for industries that want to build waste-to-energy facilities.

Although the concept of using garbage as a source of energy is generally supported by environmentalists, the county’s effort may run into controversy when it comes to finding sites for the conversion facilities, officials said.

County Praised for Pursuing New Sources

“Any time we hear about regulatory streamlining it gets our attention,” said John Buse, an attorney for the Environmental Defense Center in Ventura.

Buse, however, commended the county for pursuing alternative energy supplies and expressed “cautious optimism” about the plan.

“It may be an entirely reasonable effort to eliminate inefficiencies, and it may be something that removes important environmental protections,” Buse said. “It’s impossible to tell at this point.”

Efforts in bioenergy have so far been limited to the county’s regional sanitation district, which collects methane gas produced at closed landfills and sells it to a handful of energy companies.

One of those companies is Covanta Power Pacific, which operates a landfill gas plant in Oxnard that generates enough electricity each year to power about 5,100 homes.

“It has been absolutely successful,” said Danielle Tinman, a company spokeswoman. “Besides the fact that it saves fossil fuels that might otherwise be used, it’s using methane that, if left unchecked, can contribute to air pollution.”