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Dairy group pushes to save Renewable Natural Gas credits

A dairy group says proposed cuts to tax incentives for manure digesters would bring uncertainty to the on-farm renewable natural gas producers.

Laurie Fischer with the American Dairy Coalition tells Brownfield a group of Senators wants to eliminate the Inflation Reduction Act’s tax credits for manure digesters making renewable natural gas. “They don’t want to necessarily give carbon credits or lower the score for farmers because they’re changing livestock manure into renewable natural gas.”

The letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Climate Counselor Ethan Zindler says the V45 provision of the Inflation Reduction Act was to promote clean production of hydrogen with electrolyzers.

Fischer says removing the credits disincentivizes new manure digesters and makes the ones now operating or under construction less viable, leading to uncertainty on the farm and beyond. “It potentially could impact the farmers, but all of the businesses and of course the rest of the whole supply chain that participates in building digesters and the infrastructure for the digester.”

Fischer has urged her membership to ask elected officials to support methane capture under the V45 rule.

The American Dairy Coalition says senators opposing methane capture through manure digesters include Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Jeffrey Merkley (D-OR), Peter Welch (D-VT), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Bernard Sanders (D-VT), Cory Booker (D-NY), and Edward Markey (D-MA).