SWANA Member Testifies Before Congress On Landfill Gas Tax Credits

Washington — Curt Ranger, chairman of the Solid Waste Association of North America’s Landfill Gas Advocacy Committee, lobbied Tuesday for an expansion of landfill gas tax credits by testifying before the U.S. House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures. Ranger is the president of Ann Arbor, Mich.-based DTE Biomass Energy Inc.

“If Congress enacts an extension of the current Dec. 31, 2005 placed-in-service deadline, many more projects could come on-line,” he said in his testimony. “Based upon [U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates], over 500 landfill gas-to-energy projects can still be developed, and based upon DTE’s experience, extending the construction deadline three years would enable the landfill gas industry to build up to 150 of these projects.”

“Furthermore, if the landfill gas industry was afforded the same provisions as other renewable energy resources, such as ten-year credit periods, five-year placed-in-service deadlines and full tax credit value for electricity produced from landfill gas, Congress could enable the development of most of the EPA’s 500 viable candidate sites,” he added.