For Immediate Release
November 3, 2022
Media Contact: Anjuli.Ramos@sierraclub.org | 267-399-6422
Anaerobic Digestion Bill Released from Senate Environment Cmt.
Today the Senate Environment and Energy Committee released S3185 (Codey, Sarlo). The bill provides CBT credit for development of anaerobic digestion facilities that process food waste. This bill would incentivize the development and construction of anaerobic digestion facilities that process food waste within the State by providing a tax credit against the corporation business tax to compensate a taxpayer for the costs incurred during the development and construction of the anaerobic digestion facility. The tax credit would be available for a period of six years. Anjuli Ramos- Busot, New Jersey Director of the Sierra Club, released the following statement:
“The New Jersey Sierra Club opposes this bill for perpetuating and further emitting greenhouse gasses, thus driving climate change, and toxic air pollutants that threaten public health despite the goal of eliminating food waste.
Food waste is digested under anaerobic conditions to methane gas, a greenhouse gas, which then is burned in order to produce energy and ultimately generate and emit CO2 into the atmosphere. Anaerobic digestion is not the solution to reducing emissions as it prolongs the usage and possibly the creation of new fossil fuel infrastructure and would require pipeline infrastructure for its transport.
Additionally, anaerobic digesters produce significant amounts of hydrogen sulfide (H2S), a highly odorous and poisonous gas that can cause severe health effects at very low concentrations. The same problem experienced with H2S in landfills will be experienced in this operation. And even if you capture it and oxidize it, then you are generating sulfur dioxide, or SOx, another highly problematic air contaminant.
Transportation of this food waste via heavy duty vehicles, currently otherwise known as diesel trucks which can add yet more toxic diesel pollution to communities until trucks are electrified in the State. The expansion of an industry that depends on truck transport is not a viable solution.
For these reasons, anaerobic digestion facilities pose a significant risk to public health. Common errors that occur when filtering the waste stream also increases this risk. Any waste that is not food will contaminate the resulting gas and generate air toxics or hazardous air pollutants, therefore turning this operation not only into a source of carbon, but also a problem for public health.This will be a significant challenge with plastics in food packaging for example. Flimsy pieces of plastic are very difficult to filter out, which is the same problem we have with recycling. We can’t get rid of the plastic bags in the streams. Now, small pieces of plastic in a gas that will ultimately be burned means toxins and PFAS in the air. It is impossible to keep the resulting gas clean because there will always be unwanted waste in the stream.”
Instead, we should all be focusing on moving New Jersey towards zero waste. We must provide incentives to large food waste generators for things like waste prevention, and composting. For all of these reasons the NJ Sierra Club strongly opposed S3185 and urged this committee to recognize that incentivizing the development of yet another non-renewable, polluting industry is not going to take us further or solve any of our problems.”
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About the Sierra Club: The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information about our work in New Jersey, visit www.sierraclub.org/new-jersey.