More Sioux Falls garbage to gas to Poet

Image of Jeff Broin

2017 Inductee Jeff Broin

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO.com) -- Ethanol giant Poet and the City of Sioux Falls have signed a ten-year contract extension to buy methane gas generated by landfill garbage.

The gas comes off the garbage at the Sioux Falls Regional Landfill. Poet uses the gas in its ethanol-making process at the big plant in Chancellor.

Poet's Jeff Broin says extending the deal is a win-win situation.

"We pay the city of Sioux Falls which lowers tipping and lowers garbage rates for everyone in Sioux Falls, but also it eliminates the greenhouse gases that would come off..." Broin tells Kelo Radio's It's Your Business Show with Bill Zortman.

Broin estimates Poet has paid the city over $17 million over the past ten years and this extension represents another $13 million or so.

The contract was signed by Broin and Sioux Falls Mayor Paul TenHaken on Monday as Congressman Dusty Johnson looked on.

There is an 11-mile-long pipe from the landfill to the Chancellor plant.

Read more of 2017 Inductee Jeff Broin's Legacy of Achievement here.