Dane County Exec. Falk: Dane County poised to lead in new economy

Contacts: Office of the County Executive (608) 267-8823 or cell (608) 669-5606

By: Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk

As all eyes in our county, state, and nation turn to getting our economy going and people good paying jobs, here at home we are reinvesting in infrastructure that gets people back to work, produces green energy and protects our lakes and streams.

Already this New Year I’ve negotiated and agreed to a ten-year contract with Madison Gas and Electric for the utility to buy energy generated by garbage at the Dane County landfill. This innovative effort will result in $30-million for county taxpayers over the next decade and enough clean energy to power 4000 homes a year.

This mutually beneficial contract culminates years of county work to install electrical generators at the landfill that converts methane from the trash – – literally turning waste into cash for our citizens. The newest generator is part of my 2009 county budget and will increase energy made available for MGE and dollars for taxpayers.

There’s more to do. The county is working with farmers to tap into “cow-power” to produce jobs and convert what’s otherwise another liability – manure – into an energy creating, money-making, and environmentally friendly asset.

This would be first such facility in the state to take cow manure from several farms and convert it into everything from electricity to potting soil. Building and operating it will create new jobs with the added benefit of reducing phosphorus run-off into our lakes, helping to keep those waters blue. I’ve committed $1-million to help bring this ingenuity to reality but with 400 dairy farms in this county and some 50,000 cows, there’s enormous opportunity to do much more.

Through these kinds of innovation and working to harness the homegrown energy and economic potential of products like switch-grass, Dane County is poised to be a model and leader in creating new jobs and getting our country’s economy growing again.

We have shown the great upside to green energy.