People living in Southern California can now pay a premium to receive some of their natural gas as biofuel generated from landfills and cow manure.
California state regulators agreed to a three-year plan by Southern California Gas and San Diego Gas and Electric to sell what the utility considers renewable natural gas created from capturing methane from manure lagoons at dairy farms, landfills, or other places. Customers can pay a higher rate to have this biofuel blended into the natural gas piped into their homes and businesses.
According to an article in Bloomberg, environmental groups are opposed to this idea, citing that it’s an effort by the utility companies to distract from the push to phase out natural gas in California. Their stance is that biogas does little to cut emissions or address the industrial impacts of dairy farming.
This article appeared in the February 2021 issue of Journal of Nutrient Management on pages 5.
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