La Crosse County continues to sell landfill gas to Gundersen

Selling natural gas that’s produced in the La Crosse County landfill has become a steady source of income for the county.

The methane used to be burned off, but for the last six years, it has been purchased by Gundersen Health System for heating and generating electricity at its Onalaska clinic.

Jadd Stilwell, the county’s solid waste director, does worry that a little less gas than expected is being produced.

“When we went to single-stream recycling, we (saw) a significant drop in the amount of waste that we received at the landfill,” Stilwell said. “More materials were pulled out into the recycling stream.”

More recycling is still a good thing for the county, Stilwell says, because it reduces the amount of garbage that ends up buried.

This year, Gundersen is paying about $230,000 to the county for supplying methane.

Stilwell says the amount of methane gas being produced may be enough to continue the agreement for another 11 or 12 years.

If they can still have a return on investment after that time, Stilwell said, “we’re going to be able to eventually turn a profit on our remaining few years and, at that point in time, discuss extensions.”