Iowa dairies with biogas digesters are rising their herds, which issues water high quality advocates

This story was unique printed by The Gazette.

STATE CENTER — The 8,000 Holsteins that make the feedstock for the $42 million Marshall Ridge Renewable Power Middle are barely seen — only a flash of black-and-white disguise behind the screens of a confinement constructing in central Iowa.

However the almost 200,000 gallons of manure the dairy cows produce every day feed three anaerobic digesters that seize methane — a potent greenhouse gasoline — from the manure and switch the gasoline into renewable gas that may be bought for big-time earnings.

“Extra cows and extra manure means extra power,” stated Karl Crave, vice chairman for operations at Dynamic Renewables, a Wisconsin firm that owns and operates the Marshall Ridge heart.

The Biden Administration has lauded on-farm digesters for lowering methane emissions from livestock, spending $200 million on initiatives throughout the nation in 2021 alone. Giant digester services can earn tens of 1000’s of {dollars} per day by pumping renewable pure gasoline to states like California with low-carbon gas requirements.

However critics say the local weather good thing about methane seize from livestock is overshadowed by the potential hurt attributable to including extra animals — and their manure — in a state already affected by water high quality issues from farm runoff.

“If a farmer’s acquired 1,000 dairy cattle and he desires to place in a digester to generate pure gasoline to energy his farm indirectly, what do I care?” stated Chris Jones, president of the Driftless Water Defenders and writer of “Swine Republic: Struggles with the Fact about Agriculture and Water High quality.”

“If he places in that digester and expands his herd from 1,000 to five,000 after which is utilizing public cash to do all that after which it’s dressed up as some form of local weather change resolution, I’m calling (an expletive) on that.”

The Driftless group has filed two lawsuits in opposition to Winneshiek County leaders for approving a digester facility in northeast Iowa, the place porous karst terrain means pollution can shortly contaminate non-public wells and prized trout streams. The Iowa Division of Pure Sources authorised a allow for a digester at Full Bohr Farms Oct. 17.

Many digester websites enhance herds

Iowa has permitted 15 new digester services since 2021, when the Legislature handed a legislation permitting animal feeding operations with digesters to exceed the state’s restrict of 8,500 animal items.

Seven of the 15 dairy farms added to their herds since they acquired digester permits, a evaluation of DNR information exhibits. Once you add up all 15 Iowa websites, animal items went from 84,861 earlier than the websites acquired their digester permits to 104,424 after — a 23 p.c improve.

The biggest improve was at Hoogland Dairy, in Sioux County, which greater than doubled its most animal items from 3,000 to 7,860 after a digester enlargement. Iowa now has three dairies with greater than 10,000 most animal items. All of the state’s new digesters are at dairy farms.

There’s concern extra manure could imply larger spills — like one which occurred Feb. 7, 2022, at Winding Meadows Dairy in Lyon County in northwest Iowa.

Greater than 376,000 gallons of liquefied manure leaked from a digester into Lizard Creek, a tributary of the Huge Sioux River. The spill occurred earlier than the state had granted a building certification, so the operator mustn’t have been pumping manure into the tanks. The Iowa Division of Pure Sources fined Terry Van Maanen, who owned the dairy whose cattle equipped the manure for the digester, $10,000.

“The manure launch from the digester finally resulted within the degradation of water high quality and inflicting an elevated pollutant degree,” the DNR wrote.

Colorado-based Gevo, which operates the digester at Winding Meadows and digesters at two different massive northwest Iowa dairies, stated the corporate made modifications after the incident. “Working carefully with the DNR, we translated DNR authorised course of enchancment measures throughout our operation,” spokeswoman Heather Manuel stated in an e mail.

Van Maanen was cited twice after the February 2022 spill. In April 2022, the DNR discovered manure leaking from a tile line and in January 2023, 500 gallons of manure “foam” was launched from the digester, however didn’t enter a waterway, based on DNR data reviewed for this story. Van Maanen stated final month he has bought the dairy.

Winding Meadows didn’t instantly broaden after the digester was constructed, however new proprietor Joel Bleeker acquired a allow in Could to spice up the herd 45 p.c after a brand new calf barn is constructed.

There have been different violations at dairies with digesters:

• Maassen & Sons Dairy, in Sioux County, was cited in June 2023 for beginning to construct a digester and not using a allow. The DNR cited the dairy in November 2023 for constructing piping to move manure with out having a allow. Regulators once more dinged Maassen & Sons in April for failure to submit quarterly stories. Maassen & Sons elevated its herd by 23 p.c within the final couple of years.
• Roorda Dairy, in O’Brien County, was cited in November 2021 for beginning to construct a sand separation system for a digester and not using a allow. Roorda’s herd measurement has not modified.
• Black Soil Dairy, in Sioux County, induced a fish kill in March 2023 when manure discharged from the dairy to Deep Creek, the DNR reported. Black Soil hasn’t elevated its herd since getting a digester allow.

Marshall Ridge challenge

Marshall Ridge, which began operations close to State Middle in February 2023, takes manure from Kevin and Holly Blood’s dairy cattle, provides water and pumps the combo into certainly one of three 1.3-million-gallon digesters.

Digester employees preserve the manure at 100 levels, offering an ideal atmosphere for pure micro organism to interrupt down the manure, Appearing Facility Supervisor Michael Raymer stated. The tanks are insulated in opposition to Iowa’s chilly winters.

The method releases gasoline, together with methane, that’s collected from the highest of the digesters and filtered to take away water vapor, carbon dioxide and hydrogen to create renewable pure gasoline. Black Hills Power injects the compressed gasoline into the Northern Pure Fuel pipeline that runs underground close to State Middle.

Authorities incentives for digesters

There are 1000’s of on-farm digesters in Europe, however U.S. growth has been sluggish till state and federal incentives.

The Rural Power for America Program gives loans of as much as 75 p.c and grants for as much as 25 p.c for renewable power techniques, corresponding to digesters. The Inflation Discount Act affords tax credit that will defray the preliminary startup prices.

A digester pilot challenge in Iowa and Missouri acquired $80 million from the USDA’s Partnerships for Local weather-Good Commodities in 2022. A lot of the cash is used to incentivize farmers in southeast Iowa and northern Missouri to plant prairie and canopy crops that can be harvested and fed into digesters to provide renewable pure gasoline, defined Will Higgins, growth supervisor with Roeslein Various Power.

“We’re centered on restoring over 40,000 acres of prairie and incentivizing over 40,000 acres of canopy crops,” he stated.

The digester facility close to Stockton will course of the biomass with cattle manure from Sievers Household Farm. Iowa State College will monitor, measure, file and confirm objectives for the challenge.

Reducing ag emissions

Iowa ranks No. 2, behind Texas, for greenhouse gasoline emissions from agriculture.

“Manure causes about 10 p.c of U.S. methane emissions,” stated Mike Helbing, employees lawyer for Penn State College’s Middle for Power Regulation and Coverage. “If these methane emissions are captured, it’s an excellent profit for the atmosphere.”

California is driving the event of anaerobic digesters throughout the farm belt. California requires gas producers there to remain under sure carbon depth thresholds or purchase credit from low-carbon gas producers in California or different states. If a digester facility in Iowa can provide Renewable Pure Fuel to a pipeline that goes to California, the digester facility can promote its credit to California firms.

“For those who’re producing RNG, even within the state of Iowa, you’re making a renewable gas that’s typically going to return in decrease (in carbon depth) than State of California commonplace,” Helbing stated.

The credit can carry the worth of RNG as excessive at $100 per metric million British Thermal Models (MMBTU), however Helbing says $27 to $30 per MMBTU is a extra doubtless worth right now.

The Marshall Ridge challenge produces 250 and 325 MMBTU of renewable pure gasoline per day. Gevo plans to provide 440,000 MMBTU of renewable pure gasoline a yr on the northwest Iowa digesters, based on its web site.

Some economists query whether or not anaerobic digestion from cow manure is value the associated fee.

“Digester income has been considerably increased than the worth to society of prevented methane emissions,” Aaron Smith, professor of Agricultural and Useful resource Economics on the College of California, Berkeley, wrote in an April 2023 evaluation of the worth of methane from cow manure. “Which means society is overpaying for these methane reductions. The associated fee is paid by producers of gasoline and diesel, who purchase LCFS (low-carbon gas commonplace) credit and cross the associated fee alongside to shoppers within the type of increased gas costs.”

Smith suggests dairy farmers pay the price of lowering methane emissions.

The potential biogas from digesters at swine and dairy operations in america, based on a 2018 EPA report, is lower than 1 p.c of the entire pure gasoline utilized in america in 2019, based on a report from the U.S. Power Administration.