Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson has introduced what he calls “groundbreaking legislation that offers tax breaks and guaranteed loans for small business for the development of bio-gas derived from animal waste.”
 

Biogas, a natural gas substitute that is created by the anaerobic digestion (AD) of animal wastes, is composed of at least 60%  methane, the principal ingredient in natural gas.  Biogas can be used as is on the farm, co-located with an ethanol plant, and cleaned up to be used as a renewable substitute for natural gas, propane, or other fossil fuels.  Nelson acknowledges that the technology to break down animal wastes to create bio-gas already exists and that it needs encouragement from the federal government to become a commercially-viable alternative to natural gas.
 

The bill, the Biogas Production Incentives Act of 2007, would encourage greater production of biogas for energy purposes by doing a number of things and would provide bio-gas producers with a tax credit of $4.27 for every mmBtu of biogas produced.
 

Biogas production also offers environmental benefits such as a reduction in the greenhouse gas emissions of both carbon dioxide and methane, as well as improved water quality through better manure management.
 

Sen. Nelson says the bill “would provide loans, loan guarantees and/or grants for the multi-farm collection and transportation of qualified energy feedstock from smaller livestock operations to a qualified facility, or for the purchase or construction of equipment or facilities for collection and transportation,” as well as creating a counter-cyclical safety net for biogas producers by providing payment from Commodity Credit Corporation funds to qualified biogas producers only when the annual average daily prices of natural gas falls below a certain level.
 

“We’ve made great strides in developing an ethanol industry in Nebraska and we should do more to diversify and expand our production of bio-fuels and renewable energy. My legislation will put into place tax incentives and financial support for large scale and small scale producers to get involved in biogas production and help America win the battle for energy independence.”

John Nowatzki, a North Dakota State University Extension Service agricultural machine systems specialist, says that using biodiesel in diesel engines helps reduce harmful emissions.

“With the increasing availability of biodiesel for both on- and off-road use in diesel engines, there also is increasing interest in the effect of its use on the environment,” he says.

In 2002, the EPA conducted a comprehensive analysis of biodiesel impacts on exhaust emissions and found that tailpipe emissions from engines using biodiesel are significantly lower than the emissions from similar engines operated on petroleum diesel.  Particulate matter, hydrocarbon emissions, and carbon monoxide emissions from engines using biodiesel were all less than those using petroleum diesel.

“The pollutant that is more serious from engines operated on biodiesel, compared with petroleum, is nitrogen oxide,” Nowatzki says. “Nitrogen oxide emissions are about 10 percent higher using biodiesel. Reducing nitrogen oxide emissions is a crucial component of EPA’s strategy for cleaner air and reducing acid rain. There is an effort to modify diesel engine combustion and exhaust systems to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions.”

CO2 emissions are similar from engines operated on biodiesel or petroleum diesel, but the CO2 produced from burning petroleum diesel and emitted to the atmosphere comes from sources long sequestered in the earth. Oil seed crops actually take carbon from the atmosphere during their growth cycles and store that carbon in the ground.

“When comparing the total life cycle of carbon emissions from the two fuels, petroleum diesel has a more negative effect on the environment,” Nowatzki says. “A study of the biodiesel and petroleum diesel life cycles jointly found that because biodiesel production requires such small amounts of fossil fuel, its CO2 life cycle emissions are much lower than those of petroleum diesel. Biodiesel reduces net CO2 emissions by more than 78 percent compared with petroleum diesel. A primary conclusion of the study is that displacing petroleum diesel with biodiesel in urban buses is an extremely effective strategy for reducing CO2 emissions.”  The aforementioned study was conducted by the USDA and Department of Energy.