American Biogas Council

The American Biogas Council is, according to its own website, "the first anaerobic digestion (AD) industry association in the United States that represents a full range of anaerobic digestion technologies and projects, including farm-based digesters, centralized facilities processing a variety of municipal and industrial organic waste streams, and existing digesters at municipal wastewater treatment plants."

Toxic Sludge Gasification Controversy
"Centralized facilities processing a variety of municipal and industrial organic waste streams" is PR spin for sewage sludge facilities. EPA whistleblower Hugh Kaufman has called gasification, or using sludge to generate methanol or energy, the "most environmentally sound approach, but also the most expensive," to sludge disposal. However, anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge, while it reduces the volume of the sludge and heats it to a temperature that kills many pathogens, still leaves behind what the industry calls "digestate" or, more specifically in this case, "biosolids." These "Class A Biosolids" (so-called because the Environmental Protection Agency has stricter limits on pathogens and "vector attraction" for Class A than for Class B Biosolids, i.e. they must not attract disease-carrying insects or rodents, etc.) still contain other sludge contaminants, including Dioxins and Furans, Flame Retardants, Metals, Organochlorine Pesticides, 1,2-Dibromo-3-Chloropropane (DBCP), Naphthalene, Triclosan, Nonylphenols, Phthalates, Nanosilver, and thousands more substances.

The EPA's 2009 Targeted National Sewage Sludge Survey (TNSSS) concluded that all sewage sludge, Class A, Class B or otherwise, contains toxic and hazardous materials, including large numbers of endocrine disruptors. The TNSSS results are described in two EPA reports published in 2009. EPA found that dozens of hazardous materials, not regulated and not required to be tested for, have been documented in each and every one of the sludge samples EPA took around the USA. And yet Class A "Biosolids" may be applied to cropland with no restrictions and sold or given away to gardeners as "organic fertilizers," and hundreds of municipalities and companies do so.

Sponsor of the 2011 BioCycle 11th Annual Conference on "Renewable Energy from Organics Recycling"
The American Biogas Council was an exhibitor at the 2011 BioCycle 11th Annual Conference on "Renewable Energy from Organics Recycling" and listed as a conference sponsor. BioCycle Magazine is a publication serving the interests of the sewage sludge industry.

Board of Directors
(As of November, 2011 :)


 * Paul Greene, Vice President, O’Brien & Gere (ABC Chairman)
 * Norma McDonald, North American Sales Manager, Organic Waste Systems (ABC Vice-Chair)
 * Melissa VanOrnum, Marketing Manager, GHD, Inc. (ABC Treasurer)
 * Nora Goldstein, Editor, BioCycle Magazine (ABC Secretary)
 * Shane Chrapko, Co-CEO, Highmark Renewables
 * Wayne Davis, Co-founder, Harvest Power, Inc.
 * Kerry Kelly, Director, Federal Public Affairs, Waste Management, Inc.
 * Amy McCrae Kessler, EVP & Head of Legal and Regulatory Affairs, Turning Earth, LLC
 * Christine McKiernan, VP Engineering, Verliant Energy Partners
 * Shonodeep Modak, Market Development Manager, GE Energy, Jenbacher gas engines
 * Bernie Sheff, President, UTS Residual Processing, LLC

Officers
(As of November, 2011 :)


 * Patrick Serfass, Executive Director
 * Paul Greene – O'Brien and Gere, Chairman
 * Norma McDonald – Organic Waste Systems, Vice-chair
 * Melissa VanOrnum - GHD, Inc., Treasurer
 * Nora Goldstein - BioCycle Magazine, Secretary

Staff
(As of November, 2011 :)


 * Patrick Serfass, Executive Director (TTC)
 * Josh Lieberman, Marketing and Membership (TTC)
 * Andre Cutair, Graphics, Publications and Web site (TTC)
 * Cordelia Pearson, Finance (TTC)
 * Maureen Walsh, Legislative and Regulatory Affairs (ML Strategies)
 * Bryan Stockton, Legislative and Regulatory Affairs (ML Strategies)

Members
(As of November, 2011 :)

Contact Information
1211 Connecticut Ave, NW Suite 600 Washington, DC 20036-2701 Phone: 202-640-6595 Email: info@americanbiogascouncil.org Contact Form: http://www.americanbiogascouncil.org/about_contact.asp Web: http://www.americanbiogascouncil.org/

Legislative Affairs Email: lraChairs@americanbiogascouncil.org

Media Paul Greene, ABC Chairman Email: paul.greene@obg.com Phone: 518-758-2179

Patrick Serfass, Executive Director Email: pserfass@ttcorp.com Phone: 202-904-0220

Other SourceWatch Resources

 * Toxic sludge
 * Toxic Sludge Portal
 * Sludge contaminants
 * Sewage sludge