ABC Member Alert: Two Bills Supporting AD in Maryland Have Passed the House.

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Update: Both bills passed in the House! The hearing in the Senate is scheduled for TOMORROW, 3/26 at 1PM.

ABC Members,

If you have biogas business in Maryland or are looking to develop business there, please take a moment today or tomorrow to send two support letters to Senator Paul Pinsky, Chairman of the Education, Health and Environmental Affairs Committee in the MD Senate. While we urge you to send your letters as soon as possible, we have checked with Senator Pinsky's office and letters of support will be accepted after the hearing on March 26. Support in writing can be very influential in getting the bills passed. If you would like to testify with us, in person, please email [email protected] ; for instructions. Caroline Peat and Ana Diaz from ABC Staff will both be going to Annapolis to testify. Details of each bill and instructions for submitting your letter are below.

ABC Member Alert: MD HB510 and HB511: Passed the House, moves to Senate

MD HB 510--Organic Waste – Organics Recycling – Collection and Acceptance for Final Disposal

This bill would prohibit an owner or operator of a landfill or refuse disposal system from accepting truckloads of separately collected yard waste or loads of separately collected food waste for final disposal unless the owner or operator provides organics recycling.

After testifying and submitting a letter of support with amendment, we successfully got the bill amended to to state "organics recycling facility" instead of "compost facility" so that anaerobic digesters are included equally with compost systems as an acceptable destination for food waste to be recycled.

The American Biogas Council is submitting a letter of support for HB 510 . See ABC's letter here >> and see the bill text here >>

Maryland has been trying to get an organics recycling law in place for a couple years now and we're hopeful that enough of the concerns expressed in previous legislatures have been addressed to allow this one to pass.

TO SUPPORT:

Use ABC's letter above to create your own letter to Chairman Paul Pinsky
Make sure your letter includes the statement: "We support the position of the American Biogas Council and support HB 510 which supports organics recycling of organic waste."
Email your letter to [email protected] and copy [email protected] (author of the bill) and [email protected] this week.

MD HB 511--Including Digestate in the Definition of Soil Conditioner

As a reminder, this is an amendment to the Maryland Commercial Fertilizer Law that redefines the definition of "soil conditioner" to include digestate from anaerobic digestion. With this bill, digestate could be used in storm water management solutions, in road way work via the State Highway Administration and specialty products such as roof gardens.

The American Biogas Council is submitting a support letter for this bill. See ABC's letter here and see the bill text here >>

TO SUPPORT:

Use ABC's letter above to create your own letter to Paul Pinsky
Make sure your letter includes the statement: "We support the position of the American Biogas Council and support HB 511 which adds anaerobic digestate to the definition of soil conditioner."
Email your letter to [email protected] and copy [email protected] (author of the bill) and [email protected] this week.

Thank you for your quick action and help to get these bills passed!

Patrick Serfass, Executive Director

American Biogas Council

1211 Connecticut Ave NW, Suite 650, Washington, DC 20036

202-640-6595 | [email protected]