American Biogas Council

Last night ABC staff and members--including Bernie Sheff, Bryan Sievers, Lisa Sievers, Richard DeRose, Heather Dziedzic, Jonathan Harding, Jessica Bennett, and Anna Schutt--partied at the Bipartisan Inaugural Ball Celebrating American Agriculture. The event was a great way to pay tribute to all who grow nutritious food for Americans and the world! We chatted with Congressman Glenn "GT" Thompson of Pennsylvania's 15th District, Congresswoman Angie Craig representing Minnesota's 2nd District, Monica De La Cruz, Congresswoman for Texas' 15th District, and many others working to support American farmers.  Follow us here on LinkedIn to track our work to represent our members in Washington, DC and around the nation! #inauguralball #farmers #agriculture #anaerobicdigestion #benefitsofbiogas

We've announced our Board election results! Congratulations to Richard Cooper, Vice President of Business Development at NW Natural Renewables, was voted in as the board’s newest member, adding a fifth board member affiliated with a U.S. natural gas utility, as well as to the six board members who were re-elected--Ivor Castelino, Donald Chahbazpour, Craig Frear, Thomas Murray, Brad Pleima, and Lauren Toretta.👏 Once again, our members have selected an extremely talented group from companies that help ensure our leadership represents the entire biogas supply chain. We're working together to maximize all the positive environmental and economic impacts that biogas systems offer by recycling organic material into renewable energy and soil products! Go team! 💪 #benefitsofbiogas #RNG #renewableenergy #leadership

WOW. City of Grand Rapids Environmental Services Department probably has the most impressive staff and cleanest facility of any biogas facility we’ve visited in recent memory. They’re not only recycling the city’s wastewater, they’re taking the waste from the local beer brewers and recycling it into biogas and RNG to fuel the city’s buses, while also reducing costs for taxpayers. Love, love, love! Bernie Sheff Craig Frear Hanna Hakenäs Alycia Tolman, BS, MBA Tyler Shore James Sheff

This past Friday afternoon, the U.S. Department of the Treasury issued a notice of its intent to issue proposed regulations for the clean fuels production tax credit. Our Executive Director, Patrick Serfass, issued the following statement today in response: “While Treasury took action to clarify the seemingly obvious fact that low-carbon fuel tax credits should accrue to renewable natural gas (RNG) producers, the agency’s guidance preceded issuance of the GREET45ZCF model, by which fuel producers must assess emissions rates. Absent this information, the industry cannot assess the true impacts of the guidance. “Furthermore, given Treasury’s recent reliance on the Department of Energy’s flawed Counterfactual Assessment for biogas, referenced in other guidance released within the last month, the biogas industry is pessimistic that the Administration will get it right for this clean fuels production tax credit. These tax credits are supposed to be technology neutral, rewarding the clean energy sources that reduce carbon emissions the most. Instead, we’ve seen again and again, the Treasury and Energy Departments ignore the demonstrated and verified emission benefits of biogas and RNG systems. If the current pattern is not corrected, this would significantly limit the value of otherwise qualified fuels, arbitrarily penalizing RNG in what was designed as a technology-neutral incentive. “Biogas and RNG projects recycle manure, food waste, wastewater, and landfill gas into renewable fuel, investments that benefit both rural and urban communities alike. When they do that, emissions are reduced from both the material they recycle and the displaced fossil fuels from the biogas they produce. Biogas systems often reduce carbon emissions at a rate that’s three to six times faster than a comparably sized solar or wind project. When policymakers ignore these facts, they pick technology winners instead of rewarding the industries that actually reduce emissions the most. It’s bad for the environment and bad for domestic businesses. It’s unfortunate that Treasury has made these perverse choices to hurt clean fuel producers using American equipment and labor, the opposite of what was intended by Congress.”  #biogas #RNG #renewablefuel

We've added three new positions to our team! 🎉 Please join us in welcoming Hanna Hakenäs, VP of Training, Alycia Tolman, BS, MBA, Director of Carbon Markets, and Tyler Shore, Director of Sales! 👏 Hanna will be enhancing our existing training curricula and developing new courses to train biogas industry professionals.📖 Alycia will lead our work to expand markets based on biogas systems’ carbon-reduction benefits.🪴 And Tyler will lead our sales team, helping us connect with brother and sister industries, while promoting the growth of our events.📈 Adding this talent to our team will support our members' needs, drive new business, and better prepare tomorrow’s workforce for success in biogas and carbon markets. 💪 More details here: https://bit.ly/40t184w Say hello in the Comments and be sure to follow us here to stay up-to-date on the biogas industry! 😊 #welcome #newstaff #benefitsofbiogas #WeAreTheABC!

The U.S. Department of the Treasury issued final rules yesterday afternoon for clean electricity investment tax credits. Patrick Serfass, Executive Director of the American Biogas Council, issued the following statement in response: “By failing to recognize the benefits of biogas-derived electricity, Treasury's new rules show a complete disregard of climate science and a lack of understanding that biogas systems reduce carbon emissions more than any other technology. As a result, these rules–which Congress intended to be technology neutral–pick winners and losers, while departing from logic and sound GHG accounting. “In practice, this tax credit provides little to no value, creating economic barriers to recycling and encouraging low-cost disposal instead. Small municipalities and rural agricultural communities will be hurt most, at a time when they are being asked to manage their wastes more sustainably. Meanwhile billions of tons of energy-rich waste will remain untapped. “Existing biogas facilities can generate about 5 gigawatts of clean, firm electricity, but they represent just 12% of what’s possible if all potential biogas facilities were built. That would mean US biogas projects could create 40 gigawatts of generating capacity in total. At a time when both waste and energy demand are rapidly increasing, the federal government should be doing all it can to incentivize the conversion of waste into domestic, clean and renewable energy. It's a shame and a missed opportunity.” #biogas #cleanpower #renewableenergy #recyclingwaste

The U.S. Department of the Treasury this morning issued final rules for the implementation of the Section 45V Clean Hydrogen Production Credit. Patrick Serfass, Executive Director of the American Biogas Council, issued the following statement in response: “We are grateful to the Treasury Department for its diligence in creating these rules, which will incentivize the production of more renewable hydrogen, an important source of domestic clean energy for America. “The new rules recognize the value of renewable natural gas (RNG) as a renewable feedstock for making clean hydrogen. The final rules address key issues within the Department’s prior proposal, including removing the first productive use penalty, which effectively treated existing sources of RNG like conventional natural gas. Today’s action more closely aligns with industry standards.  Other adjustments made by Treasury ensure barriers to hydrogen production are limited, while preserving integrity of carbon intensity scoring, tracking and certification. “By harnessing energy from organic material that would otherwise be wasted, biogas and RNG producers simultaneously reduce methane emissions while creating renewable energy. There are currently about 2,400 biogas projects in operation in America today, compared to a potential 20,000. These new rules will support increased production of RNG and biogas to make clean hydrogen which will allow our industry to expand their work to recycle waste in this way.” “We look forward to working with the new Congress and the Trump administration on preserving these valuable tax incentives.” #hydrogen #biogas #RNG #domesticenergy #cleanenergy

The American Biogas Council (ABC) issued the following statement today, attributed to ABC Executive Director Patrick Serfass, congratulating Speaker Mike Johnson on his re-election as the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives: “On behalf of the American Biogas Council and our members, we congratulate Speaker Johnson on his re-election as Speaker of the House. Our leadership and members look forward to working with the Speaker as he leads the House during this new legislative session. “Speaker Johnson’s commitment to increasing domestic energy production, the wise use of resources, and using tax policy to support American innovation and job creation aligns perfectly with the goals and values of the biogas industry, which converts food scraps, manure, landfill gas and other often wasted material, into renewable fuel and electricity. “Biogas project development supports America’s energy independence by producing renewable natural gas to fuel our transportation sector, and reliable 24/7 power to the electric grid to help meet the massive demand for electricity needed to continue American technological innovation. “In addition to producing home-grown energy and fertilizer, investing in biogas development creates good-paying jobs in both urban and rural communities. “We look forward to working with Speaker Johnson and the entire House of Representatives to continue this good work and its benefits for the American people.” #biogas #RNG #domesticenergy #cleanenergy

Team ABC is in the thick of the action today at the #USCapitol! Our VP of Policy Heather Dziedzic along AJW, Inc. teammate Anna Schutt and ABC member companies hit the halls of Congress for today's swearing in ceremonies, sharing our #congratulations and best wishes on the start of a fresh term for Nikki Budzinski (D-IL), Bob Latta (R-OH), Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN), Ashley Hinson (R-IA), Rep. Hillary Scholten (D-MI), and many others. We're grateful for the support of these and all elected officials who champion the #biogas industry. They understand that biogas supports America’s energy independence by creating home-grown energy--reliable 24/7 power to the electric grid AND renewable natural gas to fuel transportation--and offers many other benefits for America. We're excited to keep up the growing momentum behind this important sector of renewable energy!

Welcome 2025! 📆 Our New Year prediction is that the biogas industry will bring even more benefits to Americans this year. 🎉 🔥 More renewable fuel: Biogas systems can convert waste to renewable natural gas, a “drop-in” fuel that can transported via the natural gas pipeline network. 💡 More electricity. Biogas systems produce baseload renewable energy with 95% uptime. 💩 Better management of waste: The U.S. produces 66.5 million tons of food waste each year, sludge from 31 billion gallons of wastewater every day, and manure and nutrients from 8 billion farm animals. Instead of being wasted, this organic material can be used to create renewable energy. 💲 More economic benefits: Recent research indicates the U.S. has the potential to build nearly 24,000 new biogas systems (❗), which would create 600,000 short term jobs and nearly 40,000 permanent jobs. The ABC’s members are ready to tap more and more of biogas' potential! Follow us here on LinkedIn to learn more about the industry’s growth and exciting new projects throughout 2025. Cheers! 🥂