Permian Basin Oil & Gas Report 1/26/03
By: Mella McEwen - Oil Editor

"Typically the Environmental Protection Agency is handing out fines," notes Larry
Gilbert, president of Midland-based Renovar Energy Corporation. "This time they
were handing out awards." Renovar earlier this month received the Landfill
Methane Outreach Program's Project of the Year award from the EPA for a project
it operates in Arlington, Texas. The company drilled shallow wells in a Metroplex
landfill, built a four-mile pipeline from the landfill that was both buried on land and
under the Trinity River, "zig-zagged through the River Legacy Park in Arlington," as
Gilbert put it, and delivers landfill gas and digester gas that comes off sewage
treatment are combined to provide between 6 and 10 megawatts of power used to
power the treatment plant, making it energy self-sufficient. "We were taking two
gases that were environmental liabilities and using them as an energy source so
everyone wins," he said. Even more important, he said, is that they were able to not
disturb the River Legacy Park, which he describes as a beautiful, pristine area.

Renovar submitted the project for consideration for the award, which recognizes
projects in the EPA's Landfill Methane Outreach Program. Under this program, the
EPA encourages projects that capture methane - condidered a greenhouse gas -
generated at landfills and utilize it to generate electricity. Gilbert noted that such
systems are required in landfills of a certain size and usually includes the drilling of
a series of shallow wells - from 10 to 20 feet up to 90 to a 100 feet - to extract the
methane. In many cases, he added, that gas is flared. But projects like this keep that
out of the atmosphere and put it to a positive use.

"The environmental benefits of a project like this is equivalent to planting 40,000
acres of new trees or taking 30,000 to 40,000 cars off the highway for a year," Gilbert
said. Brian Guzzone, team leader for the EPA's Landfill Methane Outreach Program,
offered figures showing that the 229 projects currently operating were capable of
collecting 77.4 Mmbtu a year of methane for use generating electricity and 102
direct-use projects could collect 44.8 Mmbtu a year, for a total of 1.22 billion BTU a
year. When planned and under-construction projects and candidate landfills are
included, the total potential Btu projections jump to 272.8 billion per year with a
total potential of 956 projects of both types.

While Gilbert said he is pleased the company received the recognition from the EPA,
he was quick to credit the assistance of other Midland-based experts like Nicholas
Consulting Group, who helped design the project and others Renovar is building.
Currently Renovar is building a project in Shreveport, La. which will include laying
seven miles of pipeline from the landfill to a General Motors truck plant, where the
landfill methane will be used as a supplement to the plant's steam boiler system.
The company has no Permian Basin projects because, as Gilbert explained, they
need to be in an area that gets at least 25 inches of rainfall a year and have landfills
that are in close proximity to industrial sites with furnaces or boilers. Still, he said, all
of the principals in the company have at least 20 years experience in the oil and
gas business and utilize as much local expertise as possible. Plus, he noted, "we have
a 100 percent drilling success rate - we've never drilled a dry hole."

• Arlington Star -Telegram 1/24/03
• The Dallas Morning News 1/24/03
• Permian Basin Oil & Gas Report 1/26/03
• Arlington Star-Telegram 2/5/03