For Immediate Release

Release Date: 10/29/2009

Council OKs Landfill Methane Gas Contract

The Metro Council approved a contract Wednesday that is projected to net taxpayers $33 million over the next 20 years by selling methane gas from the North Baton Rouge Landfill.



The contract with Siemens Building Technology Inc. and Baton Rouge Renewable Energy LLC will collect methane gas that is currently being flared at the North Landfill and deliver it to ExxonMobil’s Baton Rouge Polyolefins Plant and Novolyte Technologies Chemical Plant. The methane gas will be used as a substitute for natural gas as a boiler fuel at both plants.



City-parish Public Works Director Pete Newkirk said the project will reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the North Baton Rouge area equal to removing 59,000 cars from the road or planting 73,000 new acres of pine forests.



Under the 20-year contract, Siemens and Baton Rouge Renewable Energy will rebate a portion of the royalties – which figures to average about $1.65-million per year – back to the city-parish.



In 2007, Siemens won the right to develop the project after a competitive bidding process. Baton Rouge Renewable Energy will finance and own the project, while Siemens will design and build it.



The goal of the project, according to Newkirk, is the design, construct and operate a plant to extract methane gas from the landfill at no cost to the city-parish, and to provide the city-parish with a revenue stream.



The project will install a methane gas collection system at the landfill, along with a 3.75-mile long pipeline to transport the methane gas to ExxonMobil and a 1.5-mile pipeline to carry it to the Novolyte Technologies plant.



Construction is slated to begin on the landfill gas collection system and pipelines in November. The project is expected to be fully operational in the summer of 2010.



As part of the arrangement, the city-parish is slated to receive a $100,000 good-faith advance on the methane royalties in February of 2010.



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