$35 million for Sonoma chicken-poop power plant

<p>Count the state's Municipal Finance Authority among those who believe there is power in chicken poop.</p><p>The agency approved $35 million in low-interest bond financing for private company's plan to use chicken waste to power an energy generation project south of the city of Sonoma.</p><p>Waste from local egg farms would be used to generate methane gas and power a 1.4 megawatt fuel cell. The electricity would be sold to the Sonoma County Water Agency, accounting for about a third of the agency's normal usage.</p><p>The agency has the goal of being 100 percent carbon-neutral by 2015.</p><p>The chicken waste will be processed adjacent to the water agency's treatment plant on 8th Street East or on an adjacent property recently purchased by the agency.</p><p>OHR BioStar, a partnership between OHR Energy in Los Angeles County and a locally-based subsidiary of the Kansas City firm BioStar Systems, is the company leading the project.</p>