By HALEY RISCHAR, Waste Today, JANUARY 17, 2024

A Jan. 12 court decision will allow Vermont Gas Systems to enter into a 14.5-year contract to purchase methane produced at the Seneca Meadows Landfill in upstate New York.

According to Vermont Gas, New York’s largest gas utility, the contract will help it reduce carbon emissions from the gas it sells by increasing its use of renewable natural gas (RNG).

In a November 2023 article, Vermont Public reported that Vermont Gas President and CEO Neale Lunderville says the utility will start making requests for the gas to be delivered this year.

Methane produced at the landfill is processed by a facility owned and operated by Houston-based Archaea Energy. As of 2021, the facility produced enough RNG to power 22,000 homes, according to the Seneca Meadow Landfill’s website. 

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The contract has received criticism, with some Vermont Gas customers claiming the utility is only “buying credits” for renewable gas with only slightly lower emissions. As reported by Seven Days, an independent alternative weekly newspaper based in Vermont, Vermont Gas says methane purchased from the landfill would displace some fossil fuel it sells to its 56,000 customers in northwestern Vermont.

The case was brought to court by Bristol environmental attorney James Dumont on behalf of Charlotte resident and climate activist Catherine Bock. According to Seven Days, she argued that the Public Utility Commission should not have approved the sale because it would increase her gas rates without actually accomplishing the state’s emission-reduction goals.

However, the court concluded that the new contract would reduce emissions, as well as costs. Vermont Gas estimates that landfill gas emits 43 percent less carbon than fossil gas.