CHENANGO COUNTY – A local group looking to turn cow manure into energy received a grant from the federal government this week to study whether or not the idea could work in Chenango County.

U.S. Representative Michael Arcuri (D-Utica) announced last Tuesday that he’s secured $25,000 for the Chenango County Agricultural Energy Steering Committee. The money will match another $25,000 grant and allow the group to conduct a feasibility study for its anaerobic digester project.

According to steering committee representative Bradd Vickers, who is also President of Chenango County Farm Bureau, the digester, if implemented, could convert manure produced on area farms into electricity and heat for facilities roughly the size of the Chenango County Correctional Facility.

Vickers says the project, if used at a publicly owned site, has the potential to lower energy costs incurred by taxpayers and turn waste into value added products for farmers. Regardless of where the digester is used, its one more way, locally, of reducing dependence on foreign oil, he said.