News

Clean Action Plan targets methane

The White House has announced the next step in the President’s Climate Action Plan designed to develop homegrown energy, reduce carbon output and slow climate change.  The next effort targets greenhouse gas emissions with a focus on methane from livestock, landfills and coal, oil and gas production.

The White House says agriculture accounts for 36 percent of the human-generated methane in the U.S and cattle are a major contributor. The plan for agriculture is targeting the more-than-9 million dairy cows in the country. In June, USDA, the Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Energy in partnership with the dairy industry, will jointly release a “Biogas Roadmap”. An outline of voluntary strategies to accelerate adoption of methane digesters and other cost-effective technologies to reduce U.S. dairy sector greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent by 2020.

The National Milk Producers Federation president and CEO Jim Mulhern praised the effort saying the announcement saying it will “accelerate the adoption of biogas systems and other cost-effective technologies.” Mulhern says it formally recognizes biogas systems such as anaerobic digesters as a proven technology to mitigate environmental risks. That should attract additional third-party investment to support further development and utilization of the technology.

A number of agricultural interests praising the effort for seeking results through encouragement rather than regulation.

Read the White House plan here: