The City of The Dalles has secured a $2,000,000 low-interest loan from Oregon’s Department of Environmental Quality for construction of a generator at the municipal wastewater treatment plant to utilize methane gas from plant operations to produce electricity.  Mayor Steve Lawrence says with the loan the generator can pay for itself within ten years, and eventually help defray operation costs for the plant through savings achieved by using the power from the generator and selling excess power.  Lawrence notes the generator is being installed as part of required upgrades to the plant that are already underway.