Green Options

The NAACP has joined with environmental groups to oppose the construction of three power plants because of concerns that burning the feces will expose poor people to arsenic and other contaminants.

“Everyone wants jobs, but you have to be against a job that on the back end may bring disease,” said William Barber II, president of the state NAACP. “I guarantee you if they attempted to put it in a suburban community or a higher-income area, it would be an all-out fight against it.”

The Toronto Zoo says their 5,000 animals produce enough dung to easily cover the costs of the proposed $13 million biogas-to-power facility within five years.

The plant would produce enough electricity for not only the zoo, but thousands of Toronto households. Similar operations that convert farm animal and human waste into biogas are already in place across the world.

But where does a zoo come up with $13 million dollars?