References to "biogas" in the political arena are likely to elicit jokes about the seemingly endless speeches during this election year. But in 2012, I plan on leading California in establishing a more sensible policy toward the real thing.

Biogas, also known as bio-methane, is natural gas produced by decomposing matter. In other words, it's a byproduct of many regular activities. Landfills, water treatment plants and dairy farms all generate biogas during the regular course of business. Biogas can be burned instead of natural gas in electricity-producing facilities, natural gas-powered vehicles and home appliances. It also generates just a quarter of the lifetime emissions of "regular" natural gas, a fossil fuel.

So why wouldn't we take some of the clean biogas produced by decomposing trash and cud-chewing bovines and substitute it for the dirty natural gas we need to power our cars and homes? After all, Californians love to recycle. And what could be more in the spirit of recycling than putting to good use a biological product generated naturally by organic waste and cow manure?

That's where the political discussion comes in. Under current law, biogas producers in California are banned from selling you their clean fuel. The law prohibits landfill gas from being injected into the pipelines that carry natural gas across the state and imposes such strict testing requirements on other forms of biogas as to effectively ban them as well.

We require most biogas producers to collect their product, but we prohibit them from selling it. So, most of the time this potential source of clean energy is wasted. Landfills are forced to burn it, and dairies are forced to let the gas escape into the atmosphere. You read that right: We force potential sources of biogas to pollute and to waste their product, when we could be using it to generate clean energy.

Go outside and take a sledgehammer to the solar panels or a match to a can of gasoline. That's how counterproductive our state policy is.

There's an economic angle as well. While we prohibit California producers from generating biogas, we allow utilities to purchase it from out of state. The same entities that argue that biogas is too different to use in their pipelines are buying biogas from outside California. Rather than creating jobs outside the state, I say we should help local industry instead.

Because California produces about one-third of its electricity by burning natural gas, there is great potential to substitute dirty natural gas with clean biogas.

In 2006, the Legislature passed AB 32 to promote the creation of clean energy in the state and to reduce California's greenhouse gas emissions. Along with promoting wind, solar and other renewable technologies, the state should utilize our biogas as well, especially to fulfill certain peak power demands.

Furthermore, for municipal utilities such as those in Los Angeles, Burbank and Pasadena, purchasing biogas – currently from out-of-state sources – has been the only way to comply with new mandates and keep rates low while they struggle to get other sources of renewable power online.

Let's review: We can produce renewable power in our state from a source that occurs naturally. We can put Californians to work and clean our air. We can keep utility bills low, and we can stop the insanity of requiring existing producers of this natural resource to burn it, unused.

Despite these common-sense statements, there are those who think we should maintain the status quo of prohibiting California producers from selling biogas. There are even some extremists who think biogas should be prohibited altogether from qualifying as a renewable fuel, and that we should undo existing contracts and raise rates to make up the difference.

I am introducing legislation to stop the nonsense. My bill would allow California producers of biogas, whether big landfills or small farmers, to sell it to utilities in the state, as long as it is demonstrably clean, pure and safe. It would also prevent utilities from having to raise rates by allowing them to make good on their existing contracts to buy biogas from other sources.

The current status quo, of requiring California producers to pollute the air instead of using their clean-energy resource, makes no sense. Interfering with utilities' well-meaning current arrangements, which will surely result in higher rates, is a tone-deaf policy during this recession. Let's change this status quo.

Under the current system, very few people are benefiting. Surely not those of us who pay utility bills or breathe the air.

Mike Gatto, D-Los Angeles, is the assistant speaker pro tempore of the Assembly.

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Mike Gatto, D-Los Angeles, is the assistant speaker pro tempore of the Assembly.

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