permaculture

["Anne Erlandson" <aerlandson@bigfoot.com>]

a.. AGRICULTURE & NATURAL RESOURCES: "Ashes to ashes, soils to sequestration" 
[RICHLAND, WASH.] -- Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), 
scientists at Pacific Northwest National Labs (PNNL) tend to work on advanced 
high-tech energy gadgetry and processes. But one researcher recently released 
preliminary results of his work to show that fly ash, a common byproduct of 
coal-fired electricity generation, can help restore depleted soils and aid 
those soils in sucking up the global warming gas carbon dioxide (CO2).
Most tilling releases CO2 trapped in soils. Researcher Jim Amonette has shown 
in lab work that aiding soil alkalinity encourages enzymatic work that helps 
soil reincorporate carbon from dead plant matter. Fly ash is one of the soil 
amendments that can hasten enzyme activity. Frequent wetting and drying also 
assist the process. During this year's growing season, Amonette said he will 
field-test his theory.
Amonette said carbon-depleted soils have tremendous reservoir potential to 
slow the build up of CO2 in the atmosphere, a main cause of rising global 
temperatures. Easy agricultural land sequestration could be good news for 
Washington state utilities required by a new law to offset 20 percent of the 
carbon emissions from any new power plants built. 
PNNL currently has no plans to turn Amonette's discoveries into a saleable 
soil amendment, said spokesperson Bill Cannon. But "a clever person could 
manufacture one, because this is an approach that might work," he said. "DOE 
is interested in carbon sequestration, and this model would kill two birds 
with one stone -- a magic potion to make soil suck up carbon, and if it does 
enrich soil, a big incentive for farmers to use it."