Minnesota may soon be the first state with multi-purpose land. Think about a combination golf course, landfill and power plant. According to the St. Paul Pioneer Press, Burnsville has plans to solve some garbage, energy, odor and environmental concerns all in one project. Its landfill will be expanded by 2007 and it will feature an electricity-producing methane plant (to power 3,000 homes) beneath a beautiful 18-hole golf course. The combination methane plant-golf course will be built on a manmade, 100-foot-high plateau with majestic views of the Mississippi River basin. Although those are the only details available at the present, we can only imagine what might happen when power golfers and a power plant are thrown together. Wherever there’s a golf course, we can expect to see a community of expensive homes built along its picturesque fairways. Possible names for the Burnsville development might include Methane Meadows, Gassy Gap or Vapor Ridge. Exclamations from golfers will reflect the methane-producing plant beneath their spiked shoes — "That shot stinks!", "This game is such a gas!", "Golf takes my breath away" and "I tell ya, I’m overcome by this game!" When a golf ball lands where it shouldn’t, a term usually reserved for the game of baseball might be introduced to the game of golf — foul ball. Hazards, slopes and rises on the course may vary from one round of golf to another, depending upon the possibility of escaped gas activity beneath the surface. The good news is that the ground-heaving activity might help with those near-perfect chip shots to the green that result in golf balls teetering over the edge of a hole without actually falling in. With gas shifting around beneath your feet and electrical equipment rumbling down there, vibrations might cause the balls to drop. Not every golfer will have to experience the anguish and heartache of a "cliff hanger." Holes on the greens will be able to do double duty as excess methane gas vents. In that case the time spent bending over and retrieving a golf ball should be kept to a minimum. Players on the course might be advised to carry gas masks in their golf bags for emergencies, such as sudden cracks in the earth’s surface and escaping gases. It’s difficult to predict what might seem worse, whiffing the ball or getting a whiff of what lies beneath the golf course. The combination golf course-power plant might be a perfect deterrent for smoking. Because of the highly flammable nature of methane, a golfer might want to think twice before lighting up a victory cigar at the clubhouse’s "19th hole." In all probability the golf course will be safe. There may be no escaping gas fumes to overcome players and flash fires may not occur with every newly-lit cigar or cigarette. It may be possible to play a round of golf without burning off one’s eyebrows. The air may be safe to breathe. On the other hand, accidents do happen and when they’re asked what their golf handicaps are, the players at Methane Meadows will honestly be able to answer, "The course itself."
