Fort to Buy Landfill's Methane For Fuel

The view from the top of the green hill at the Millersville Landfill is "the prettiest sight in Anne Arundel County," County Executive Janet S. Owens (D) declared this week during a news conference at the facility to announce an agreement between the county and Fort George G. Meade.

The military installation intends to purchase the methane gas generated by the county's decomposing trash to use as fuel, a prospect that would save the military money even as it reduces greenhouse gases emitted into Anne Arundel's air and pumps money into the county's coffers.

Twelve million cubic yards of waste are buried in the landfill, yielding 1,100 cubic feet of methane gas per minute. A year's output at the county's only operating landfill would fetch about $200,000 on the market, officials said. The gas is now collected in wells and burned off into the air. The quantity of trash -- and gas -- is expected to grow along with the county.

The memorandum of understanding signed Tuesday is the first step toward reaching a long-term contract to sell methane to the post, which may use it to supplement the natural gas that powers boilers there. Col. Kenneth O. McCreedy, Fort Meade's commander, said the contract could be a prototype for other military bases to tap a renewable fuel source while benefiting the environment. Studies have shown that landfills produce smog by emitting carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases.

Owens, who leaves office Dec. 4 because of term limits, has made the environment a priority in her final months. In September, she announced that a partnership would study the feasibility of converting landfill gas and waste products into energy at the long-closed Sudley Landfill in southern Anne Arundel.

The waste-to-energy study will review available technologies that could convert brush and tree stumps, leaves and horse manure -- all abundant waste products in South County -- into electricity or liquid fuels such as ethanol. The "biofuel" study is being conducted by the county's Economic Development Corp., the Anne Arundel Soil Conservation District and North Shore Technologies, a Pennsylvania consultant. It is expected to take 18 months.

There's no question about the feasibility of delivering methane from the Millersville landfill to Fort Meade, Owens said, citing methane from a Prince George's County landfill that powers a county detention facility. Workers would construct a gas pipeline underground to run the seven miles from the Millersville landfill to the post. A cleaning component would be used on the gas to render it pure enough to be used as fuel, officials said. The line could be opened in about a year, they said.