$4.5 million Awarded to Help Fight Climate Change Through Methane-Energy Project Grants

Release date: October 7, 2008

Contact Information: Suzanne Ackerman, 202-564-7819 / ackerman.suzanne@epa.gov

(Washington, D.C. – October 7, 2008) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as part of the Methane to Markets Partnership (M2M), has selected 20 projects in 12 countries to receive more than $4.5 million in grants. Ranging from $90,000 to $700,000, grants were awarded to organizations in Argentina, Brazil, China, Ecuador, India, Korea, Mexico, Mongolia, Nigeria, Poland, Thailand, and Ukraine. These grants will be used to fund methane capture and use projects and activities in the landfill, coal, agriculture, and oil and gas sectors, which will help fight climate change.

DRAFT QUOTE:

“Each of these projects underscores the global nature of the challenge climate change presents,” said said EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson. “Through these efforts, EPA and its international partners are reducing methane emissions and creating a clean, reliable and valuable energy source.”

The grants will fund a variety of M2M activities designed to remove technical or informational barriers that interfere with the successful capture and use of methane around the world. These activities include, among others: training, development of databases on potential project sites, feasibility studies, technology transfer, and project expositions. This series of grants builds on the success of an initial solicitation in early 2007 and provides significant new funding.

Methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, is twenty times more effective than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere. The primary component of natural gas, methane is a valuable and clean-burning energy resource.

M2M is an international partnership promoting near-term, cost-effective projects that capture and use methane as a clean-energy source, and is currently composed of 27 partner governments, 26 countries and the European Commission, and nearly 800 associated private companies, NGOs, international financial institutions, and other interested organizations.

Summary of Recipients of Awarded Assistance Agreements:

Argentina: Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, was awarded $150,000 for a project on landfill gas to be used as furnace fuel.

Brazil: Fundação Promar was awarded $250,012 to develop an inventory of all landfills in Brazil and develop a master plan for landfill management in the State of Espírito Santo, Brazil.

China (4 awards): (1) Jackson Hole Center for Global Affairs was awarded $171,250 to organize a conference in Shanxi to bring together coal companies, end users (power generation) and government leaders to promote coal mine methane projects; (2) Virginia Tech was awarded $300,000 for the development of guidelines and a technical evaluation on degassing coal mine methane, the identification of methods for development of viable coalbed methane degasification and a study of economically feasible methods of gas delivery to consumers Southern Shanxi Province of China; (3) The

Environmental Sanitation Engineering Tech Research Center was awarded $175,000 to conduct three landfill gas feasibility studies; and, (4) Research Triangle Institute International was awarded $489,251 for methane emission and leak detection in the Chinese oil and natural gas system including the establishment of a China oil and gas methane inventory, as well as conduct project identification and promotion.

Ecuador: (1) M.I. Municipalidad de Guayaquil was awarded $192,600 to conduct an LMOP pre-feasibility study at the "Las Iguanas" landfill; and, (2) Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral was awarded $299,468 for an analysis of gas emissions from marginal oil fields and the evaluation of potential capture and use projects.

India (3 awards): (1) The International Institute for Energy Conservation was awarded $100,062 for the expansion of AgSTAR India to include methane capture from a distillery and winery; (2) Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research was awarded $311,675 for a feasibility study on recovery and utilization of coal mine methane in the Jharia, Bokaro and Raniganj coalfields in India; and; (3) The Institute for Environmental Management, Inc. was awarded $150,000 for improving landfill methane energy recovery in developing countries’ landfills.

Korea: National Institute of Agricultural Science & Technology, Rural Dev. Admin. (RDA) was awarded $98,500 to conduct a market assessment of agricultural waste source potential for methane capture.

Mexico: Fundación Guanajuato Produce was awarded $149,550 for development of technical standards for the design, construction & installation of anaerobic digesters in Mexico.

Mongolia (2 awards): (1) The National Association of Mongolia Agricultural Cooperators (NAMAC) was awarded $100,000 for a feasibility study on turning waste from 30,000 animals into energy; and (2) The Mongolian Nature & Environmental Consortium was awarded $100,000 for a pre-feasibility study on methane recovery and utilization in Nalaikh Coal Mine and the evaluation of options/costs/benefits for coal mine methane recovery at an existing government owned mine.

Nigeria: Center for People and the Environment was awarded $90,000 for a pre-feasibility study of landfill gas to electricity conversion from Nigerian landfills

Poland (3 awards): (1) The Institute for Ecology of Industrial Areas (IETU) was awarded $399,913 for an abandoned mine feasibility study and coal mine methane to liquefied natural gas assessment; (2) The Oil and Gas Institute, was awarded $100,000 for a study of the capabilities and awareness of landfill gas’ potential energy; and; (3) The Central Mining Institute of Katowice was awarded $250,000 to detail the characteristics of the ventilation air methane emissions from 29 gassy underground coal mines.

Thailand: Ministry of Agriculture Department of Livestock & Cooperation was awarded $700,000 to install anaerobic digester systems at 12 farms.

Ukraine: Renewable Energy Agency was awarded $199,950 for a landfill gas feasibility study evaluating, the installation of an expanded landfill gas to energy project in Rivne.

For more information about these grants and the Methane to Markets Partnership please visit: www.epa.gov/methanetomarkets or www.methanetomarkets.org.