[Ditto]

Now this WILL strong-arm OPEC...

I don't know about that. I'm sure we have a lot of pig s*** in this country, but I doubt it is enough to put a dent in the amount of oil we import --- unless of course we can get drilling rights to Teddy Kennedy's septic system. ;~))

[MineralMan]

Methane production from manure has been used for a very long time. A typical use is to heat dairy barns in winter. It's quite effective and uses very simple technology.

Larger-scale plants exist that operate on sewage, and are part of the sewage treatment facility.

While hog manure is probably not in large enough supply to generate a huge amount of gas and oil, consider human sewage...essentially the same thing. If every sewer plant in the country were generating usable methane for fuel and oil from our human sewage, we'd be talking about a large operation with large output.

This is not bogus technology, and it's not liberal technology. It's just technology.