Proposed Short-Lived Climate Pollutant Reduction Strategy

B. Put Organic Waste to Beneficial Use
California’s organic waste streams are responsible for half of the State’s methane
emissions and represent a valuable energy and soil-enhancing resource. Effectively
implementing the measures described in this Proposed Strategy will not only reduce
methane emissions but provide many other benefits as well, including cutting emissions
of CO 2 and boosting economic growth in agricultural and rural communities.
Building infrastructure to better manage organic waste streams could lead to billions of
dollars of investment and thousands of jobs in the State. 30,31 This infrastructure could
provide valuable new sources of renewable electricity or biogas, clean transportation
fuels, compost other beneficial soil amendments, and other products. Adopting state
policies to promote biogas from organic waste would provide a strong durable market
signal to industry, agencies, and investors. In addition, this biogas can help the State
meet its 33 percent renewable mandate for hydrogen transportation fuel. The State's
new 50 percent renewable portfolio standard may drive renewable hydrogen production
even higher. Collectively, products from organic waste streams in California, and
potential environmental credits from them, could represent a market worth billions of
dollars in California.
Utilizing clean technologies to put organic waste streams to a beneficial use can also
serve to improve regional air and water quality and support economic growth in
agricultural and other
communities throughout the
State. For example, most dairies
in California currently store
manure in uncovered lagoons
and use lagoon water to fertilize
on-site forage crops. This
approach to managing manure
has helped to improve the
efficiency of dairy farms and milk
production over the years.
However, these lagoons also
create one of the largest sources
of methane emissions in the
State, and—when combined with imprecise or improper land application of nutrients,
water, and salts via flood irrigation of lagoon effluent—can create adverse groundwater
30 Kaffka et al (2011) Economic, Social, and Environmental Effects of Current and Near-term Biomass
Use in California, California Biomass Collaborative, University of California, Davis.
http://biomass.ucdavis.edu/publications/
31 Due to its large dairy industry, California likely represents more than its share of the estimated 11,000
potential new biogas systems that could be built in the U.S. and the associated $33 billion in capital
deployment, 275,000 short-term construction jobs, and 18,000 permanent jobs.
USDA, USEPA, USDOE (2014) Biogas Opportunities Roadmap: Voluntary Actions to Reduce Methane
Emissions and Increase Energy Independence.
http://www.usda.gov/oce/reports/energy/Biogas_Opportunities_Roadmap_8-1-14.pdf
24 April 11, 2016