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Beshear Awards $100,000 State Grant to Glasgow Project Designed to Convert Methane into Energy

The city of Glasgow has taken another step toward limiting the impact of methane gas released from its landfill.

Governor Steve Beshear was in Barren County Wednesday to present Glasgow city leaders with a $100,000 grant from the state to pursue a landfill gas generation project.

Currently, methane emitted from garbage at local landfills is vented into the atmosphere. Under the new plan, methane would be piped into a generator and converted into electricity.

“This methane gas to electricity process is something we need to do more of in this country," Beshear said. "And to take refuge in a landfill, and take the methane gas off of that and turn it into electricity and put it on the grid so that people can use it--it saves us all money, it saves the environment.”

Glasgow mayor Rhonda Trautman says the city is acting now to avoid problems later.

“We are trying to be proactive in our management of our methane. Some people don’t realize it, but in 2016, the regulations of the EPA change drastically, and we will no longer be able to just let the methane go out of these vents that you see over here," the mayor told WKU Public Radio.

The estimated $1.3 million project is being partially paid for through a $1 million loan to the city from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Glasgow is partnering with East Kentucky Power Cooperative to have the project running by 2015.

Kevin is the News Director at WKU Public Radio. He has been with the station since 1999, and was previously the Assistant News Director, and also served as local host of Morning Edition.
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