Ameren To Use Landfill Waste For Power

JIM SALTER

MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. (AP) — Garbage at a St. Louis County landfill will help generate enough electricity to power thousands of homes under a plan announced Thursday by the utility company AmerenUE.

Gov. Jay Nixon was among those joining Ameren officials at Fred Weber Inc.'s landfill in northwest St. Louis County to tout the "Methane to Megawatts" project expected to be operational by 2011. Financial terms of the agreement between Ameren and Fred Weber were not disclosed.

Nixon said the project "will protect our land, air and water resources and create good jobs at the same time."

The idea isn't new. Nationwide, the federal Environmental Protection Agency counts 480 landfills that use their methane to generate electricity and has targeted 520 others as potential candidates through its Landfill Methane Outreach Program.

Some states are also trying to turn methane from cow waste into electricity — agriculture accounts for about one-third of U.S. methane released into the atmosphere. Methane also comes from coal mines and oil refineries, and is considered the No. 2 greenhouse gas contributing to global warming, after carbon dioxide.