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A project of Common Dreams

For Immediate Release
Contact:

Rich Bindell, 202-683-2457; rbindell@fwwatch.org

Manure to Energy Announcement is No Solution for The Bay

Statement by Wenonah Hauter, Executive Director, Food & Water Watch

"Governor O'Malley's announcement last week that Maryland is investing in a controversial manure to energy scheme is good for factory farms, but bad for the Chesapeake Bay. Manure to energy projects are no solution for managing the estimated 300,384 tons of excess poultry litter in the Bay region.

WASHINGTON

Statement by Wenonah Hauter, Executive Director, Food & Water Watch

"Governor O'Malley's announcement last week that Maryland is investing in a controversial manure to energy scheme is good for factory farms, but bad for the Chesapeake Bay. Manure to energy projects are no solution for managing the estimated 300,384 tons of excess poultry litter in the Bay region.

"The state, in partnership with the University System of Maryland, will enter into a power purchase agreement with Green Planet Power Solutions to purchase a minimum of 10 MW of electricity produced from animal waste in Caroline County. But converting poultry litter into energy is not a sustainable solution for the problems created by concentrating too many animals in one place. These projects, funded by government subsidies and tax credits, often create new waste streams, such as toxic air emissions that introduce harmful air pollutants into communities, and do not eliminate many pollutants of concern in animal waste such as nitrogen and phosphorous that choke the Bay.

"While the details of the Green Planet Power Solutions project are not yet publicly known, we call upon Maryland's political leaders to stop asking citizens to bail the industrial ag interests out of their massive waste problem by financing projects that only perpetuate unsustainable farming practices."

To see our report, Poultry Litter Incineration: An Unsustainable Solution, visit https://documents.foodandwaterwatch.org/doc/PoultryLitterIncineration.pdf

Food & Water Watch mobilizes regular people to build political power to move bold and uncompromised solutions to the most pressing food, water, and climate problems of our time. We work to protect people's health, communities, and democracy from the growing destructive power of the most powerful economic interests.

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