Fort Worth’s trash could soon become its treasure as the city explores the possibility of selling methane gas generated by its southeast landfill. The City Council voted Tuesday on whether to hire an outside law firm to advise on legal issues surrounding the extraction of landfill gas. If approved, the city will pay Houston-based firm Porter Hedges LLP $12,000 to help draw up a contract with landfill operator Republic Services and a yet-to-be-named third party company to extract, process and sell methane generated by the landfill.
It is essentially another type of gas well revenue, said Brandon Bennett, who oversees the city’s solid waste department. Methane is generated when trash decomposes in the landfill.
Normally the city captures and burns some of the methane through flaring, but this contract will allow the city to make rather than burn money. The third-party company will be responsible for setting up, maintaining and operating the gas extraction process at no cost to Fort Worth taxpayers, Bennett said.