Align RNG
Renewables company could transform how millions of tons of hog waste are managed in NC
Montauk Ag Renewable has test site in Duplin County and plans to operate plant in Sampson County, but will it work? Outside a large steel barn in Magnolia, Martin Redeker scooped loads of dried hog waste, composted with carbon, onto a snow shovel for anyone to take a deep whiff. It smelled.
Natural gas gets a pass in new bill to further curb local government authority
A bill before the legislature would give preferential treatment to the natural gas industry, which has embarked on a nationwide push to force local governments to keep using the fossil fuel. House Bill 220 would prohibit cities and counties in North Carolina from adopting ordinances to limit the expansion of (or connections to) natural gas service. The measure's primary sponsors are Reps. Dean Arp, John Szoka, Charles Miller and Jason Saine, all Republicans.
Democratic state lawmakers ask DEQ to deny water quality permits for Align RNG biogas farms
Thirty Democratic legislators sent a letter to the NC Department of Environmental Quality today asking the agency to deny water quality permits for farms who plan to participate in the controversial Align RNG biogas project. Align RNG is a partnership between Smithfield Foods and Dominion Energy. The new company plans to build a 30-mile pipeline […]
DEQ approves air permit for Align RNG biogas facility, but hog farms will need approvals
The NC Department of Environmental Quality has approved a controversial air permit for a proposed biogas gathering and processing facility in Turkey, on the Sampson and Duplin county line. However, the Align RNG facility, co-owned by Smithfield Foods and Dominion Energy, will not process biogas until the participating hog farms receive the required permits, […]
DEQ to Align RNG: Tell us the location of the hog farms in biogas project
The NC Department of Environmental Quality is pressing Align RNG, a partnership between Smithfield Foods and Dominion Energy, to reveal the locations of hog farms involved in the largest biogas project in the state. The Division of Air Quality sent a letter dated Dec. 8 to Align RNG with a series of questions about the farms, […]
Smithfield, Dominion propose major swine gas project, but details are secret, troubling residents
Public hearing on Align RNG air permit set for this afternoon
Smithfield Foods and Dominion Energy plan to deploy 30 miles of underground pipeline in Sampson and Duplin counties, part of a controversial project to buy methane from area hog farms, then transport and sell the energy to major utilities.
In and of itself, decreasing methane emissions in the atmosphere isn’t controversial. Such reductions are key to curbing climate change because methane is even more potent in heating the planet than carbon dioxide. And the state’s Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard requires investor-owned utilities to generate or buy a minute amount — just 0.02% — of their power from swine and poultry waste.