US aims to cut methane emissions from livestock

While the White House''s proposals for curbing methane emitted by livestock are toned down and depend on voluntary measures, these measures are already under way, Wall Street Journal reports.

Agriculture accounts for 36% of the human-related methaneproduced in the United States, the White House said. Livestock is by far the biggest source, with the nation''s herd of about 88 million cattle particularly big producers. Livestock emissions also come from manure from cattle, pigs and other animals.

The White House plan focuses on the dairy industry, which accounts for nine million of the United States cattle population. It emphasizes efforts-already being encouraged by the agriculture department and the industry-to use machines called biogas "digesters" to convert methane from livestock into energy.

The administration said the EPA (Environment Protection Agency), the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) and the energy department will work with the dairy industry to produce a "biogas roadmap" in June outlining voluntary methods to "accelerate the adoption of biogas systems" and other technologies to reduce the industry''s total emissions by 25% by 2020.

"We''re glad that it''s carrots as opposed to sticks, and think this could help generate a more reliable revenue stream for farmers from manure," said Chris Galen, a spokesman for the National Milk Producers Federation, the largest trade group of dairy farmers.

Agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack played down the new initiative. "It really doesn''t mean anything beyond continuing what we''re already doing," he said in an interview. He said the USDA already has a "very aggressive partnership" with the dairy industry, including a commitment started several years ago to help fund the purchase of methane digesters.

Some agriculture companies have been working on their own commercial solutions. Cargill Inc., the global commodities company based in suburban Minneapolis, has provided digester technology developed for its own meat facilities to three major United States dairies. The units convert methane gas to electricity, producing on average 1.3 million kilowatt-hours a month, which Cargill estimates could power 3,000 homes.

Cargill also has outfitted nine of its 22 United States meat-production facilities with wastewater technology that captures methane gas and uses it to heat boilers that are used in food safety and plant sanitation operations, according to Michael Martin, a spokesman for Cargill. The systems have reduced the facilities'' use of natural gas and cut their carbon dioxide emissions by a total of 50,000 tonnes a year, he said.