Seneca Meadows-Seneca Energy earns EPA Award

Seneca Meadows, Inc. and Seneca Energy, LLC announced today the acceptance of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Partner & Project of the Year award, through its Landfill Methane Outreach Program, for the direct use of landfill gas in Seneca Energy’s renewable natural gas facility.The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Landfill Methane Outreach Program is a voluntary assistance program that helps to reduce methane emissions from landfills by encouraging the recovery and beneficial use of landfill gas as an energy resource. Landfill gas contains methane, a potent greenhouse gas that can be captured and used to fuel vehicles, homes and businesses.”The EPA award is a testimony of the great things that can happen when environmentally responsible companies work together,” said Kyle Black, Area Manager for Seneca Meadows. “This project reduces our country’s reliance on foreign oil, preserves natural resources, reduces emissions and benefits our local economy.”Dennis Plaster, Senior Vice President of Operations for Seneca Energy, said this about the award, “We are honored that the EPA has recognized this valuable project and partnership. Working together, we can continue to make a difference for our environment and help stimulate the local economy.”Based on the EPA LMOP 2014 Landfill Gas Benefits Calculator, the renewable natural gas project benefits the environment by:- Directly reducing 16,500 tons of methane/year- Avoiding the equivalent of 41,000 tons of CO2/year- Producing the energy equivalent of heating 10,000 homesThe renewable gas facility, Seneca Energy II, came online in March of 2014, and is located across from the landfill, next to Seneca Energy I, the 17.6 megawatt landfill gas-to-electric power generation facility which has been operational since 1996. Both plants were built and are owned and operated by Aria Energy. Seneca Energy II processes approximately 3,000 standard cubic feet per minute of landfill gas, enough to power 8.4 megawatts of electric generation capacity or to produce 25,000 gallons of compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicle fuel per day.The partnership between Seneca Meadows and Seneca Energy also recently resulted in an annual energy savings of over $60,000 for the Seneca Falls Central School District. To learn about this great partnership, log onto senecaMeadows.com