Acadia Parish resident's trash could potentially be used for renewable energy at their local landfill.
The Acadia Parish landfill is the primary disposal area for the parish. The landfill is 117 acres, 90 acres of which is used for waste disposal. Acadia Parish Police Jury is in talks about a potential Methane Project that would capture, recover and clean methane and combine it with landfill gas created from waste.
“It’s going to be captured and it’s going into the system, and blend it with methane which is natural gas that’s already taken from underground," Brett Bayard said. "It’s going to become a revenue stream for the parish and its citizens.”
Brett Bayard, an engineer for Mador Engineering told me the methane project would be a 10-15 million dollar investment.
“That investment will be made by a private company," Bayard said. "The police jury, the citizens of Acadia parish pay zero for it, there is no risk for the parish.”
Acadia Parish Police Jury President, Beau Petitjean says the methane project will be an asset to the parish by making revenue, that will offset the cost for the landfill. Offsetting the cost of the landfill will make it easier for money to be poured back into the parish.
“The Acadia Parish Police Jury sees this project collecting the methane, selling the methane, and then what we do is we generate revenue," Petitjean said. "We want to bring it back to the parish to redo roads, to maintain ditches, and water ways.”
Beau has a message for the people of Acadia parish.
“So just to tell the people of the parish, to comfort them, that producing this methane, gas will generate revenue, so that we can make the parish better.”
The Acadia parish police jury will vote on the project at its next meeting.
