Letter: Sell methane gas from garbage dump to Nevada Power

Friday, March 3, 2000 | 9:36 a.m.

The garbage monopoly dumps on the taxpayer again! Not enough to be a "captive audience," paying garbage fees guaranteed by a politically approved franchise, now we have to spend more money to fix the old landfill.

In all probability, our original fees would have taken care of that were it not for vacation-home expenses in the northwest. Of course, the one making the most "stink" about the whole situation is the house and golf-course developer that opted to put his "Utopia" directly southeast of the old Sunrise dump.

Rather than simply spending money out of the general fund, maybe we ought to set the whole thing up so that there is some sort of partial return on expenses. Air could be injected into the mass, which would promote methane production. Dig a few trenches and install perforated steel pipe to collect the methane gas, which is given off as a by-product of garbage decomposition. Funnel this methane gas into the Nevada Power Sunrise plant, burning it as an alternate source of natural gas, charging Nevada Power a nominal fee to use it.

Though we may not recover all of the costs, something is better than nothing, and we all could get a laugh with a picture (in the Sun) of the county commissioners sticking a shovel into a pile of garbage at the groundbreaking. PR and payback, all in one.

CHARLIE MICHAEL