Rick Santorum is promoting a plan to eliminate landfill dependence with a waste-to-energy initiative being fronted by the Connecticut-based energy firm Viking Peak.
The former Pennsylvania senator and GOP presidential candidate hit the road in Tennessee to hawk the program, visiting the Bi-County Solid Waste Board of Montgomery and Stewart counties Tuesday.
"We spend all of this money digging holes in the ground to harvest coal, only to turn around and spend more money taking organic matter that we could be burning as an energy source, and instead putting it back in the ground; it's a waste," Santorum told the board, the Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle reported.
Santorum said Europe so far trumps the United States in turning waste in energy.
"Refuse-derived fuel is very popular there," he said. "They bale it . . . and burn it as part of their electric generation. What we've done is come up with something that is an improvement on that.
"Being a community that is truly 100 percent recycled is a great calling card to . . . green businesses, and big corporations that are looking to locate and expand, and back-office operations. It saves municipalities money in the process."
As well, Santorum added, "the fuel burns cleaner than coal.”