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- Title
Anaerobic Digestion Technology: How Agricultural Producers and the Environment Might Profit from Nuisance Lawsuits.
- Authors
KESKE, CATHERINE M. H.
- Abstract
Anaerobic digestion technology converts biomass into biogas, which may be purified into methane. Agricultural producers use a generator to convert the methane biogas into electricity, which they can later use, or sell in its purified form. Anaerobic digesters improve environmental quality, as measured by a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and improved nutrient management practices. This article demonstrates that anaerobic digestion technology is an economically feasible way to avoid the costs associated with a nuisance lawsuit. In fact, an agricultural operation that installs a digester to mitigate the costs of an imminent lawsuit could financially profit from the technology. Agricultural producers generate profit when an anaerobic digester produces enough energy to outweigh its operating costs. However, anaerobic digestion technology is not yet a cost-effective alternative to doing nothing, at least for agricultural producers not threatened by a nuisance lawsuit in the western United States. This article summarizes results based upon primary data collected from agricultural operations in the western United States and a case study of Wyoming Premium Farms, a 20,000 swine operation in Wheatland, Wyoming.
- Subjects
WYOMING; ANAEROBIC digestion; BIOGAS; ENVIRONMENTAL protection; GREENHOUSE gas mitigation; NUISANCES; ACTIONS &; defenses (Law)
- Publication
Natural Resources Journal, 2012, Vol 52, Issue 2, p315
- ISSN
0028-0739
- Publication type
Case Study