A young Pennsylvania company hopes to build a facility that would convert the methane generated at the Juniper Ridge Landfill in Old Town into a fuel that can power trucks and buses. Archaea Energy hopes to refine the methane that’s produced at the landfill so it can be used to power some vehicles, according to Don Meagher, Casella’s manager of planning and development. In exchange, Casella would receive a portion of the revenue when that fuel is sold to filling stations.
Archaea is now seeking an air emission license from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. The company’s representatives did not respond to requests for comment. An expected timeline for the project was not available. Founded in 2018, Archaea grew out of a company that offers landfilling and waste hauling in the Pittsburgh area.
It hopes to refine the methane from the Old Town landfill into a pure form that the federal government has labeled “renewable natural gas.” That fuel can be used interchangeably with conventional natural gas for various purposes including transportation fuel, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
This is Casella’s third push to dispose of the methane generated at the Old Town landfill in a cleaner manner, according to Meagher. From about 2008 to 2014, the company worked to sell the methane to the University of Maine to be burned in its steam plant, but the company eventually dropped the project because the price of natural gas had plummeted, meaning it would not be a viable investment.