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Manure leaks from new " green " facility

jamesvanderwulf

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Nov 27, 2015
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A new facility in northwest Iowa that was built to create environmentally friendly fuel from cow manure polluted a creek this past week when it leaked an estimated 376,000 gallons of manure water, according to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.
The manure digester near Rock Valley is among three in Lyon and Sioux counties being built by Gevo, a Colorado company that plans to capture methane from dairy cattle manure and process it into renewable natural gas to fuel low-emissions vehicles in California, according to the company’s website.
It began construction last year and plans to have the system operational early this year.
“We’re excited to get NW Iowa RNG online, right on schedule,” said Chris Ryan, the company’s president, in a news release less than two weeks ago.
“Our team here has done a terrific job, creating a facility that will become an example of how renewable energy can work for years to come, and we’re excited to bring our partnership with area farmers to the next stage.”
But when the company recently filled the Rock Valley digester with manure, it began to leak into the ground.
The leak was discovered early this past week when someone noticed contaminated water leaving an underground tile line, said Jacob Simonsen, an environmental specialist for the DNR.
“They don’t know what’s caused the leak,” he said.
“It’s kind of puzzling for them.”
The digester is a large, mostly subterranean container that captures biogas produced by microorganisms that feed on the manure.
That gas — estimated to be about 58 percent methane, 42 percent carbon dioxide and less than 1 percent hydrogen sulfide — is compressed and sent through a few miles of pipe to another facility that refines it and sends it to an existing, interstate natural gas pipeline, according to documents Gevo filed with the Iowa Utilities Board in 2020.
The Rock Valley digester is the smallest of the three but can hold one and a half million gallons of manure, said Heather Manuel, a spokeswoman for Gevo.
“We will be inspecting all the other digesters as we move forward — just extra precautions,” Manuel said.
“This will not delay any timelines at this point.”
Simonsen said this past week it was unclear how long the digester was leaking.
The watery manure seeped into the ground and into tiling that is meant to drain stormwater from the area.
The contaminated water flowed to a crop field and into Lizard Creek, which feeds the Rock River.
It’s unclear how much of the water reached the creek.
The effects of the contamination were not immediately clear, in part because sections of the creek were covered in ice that concealed what lay beneath, Simonsen said.
No fish kill was apparent.
 
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In comparison, no feedlots in Iowa leached any non compliant waste into navigable waterways in 2021.
All effluent from feedlots meets established safe health discharge standards.
Derp.
 
A new facility in northwest Iowa that was built to create environmentally friendly fuel from cow manure polluted a creek this past week when it leaked an estimated 376,000 gallons of manure water, according to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.
The manure digester near Rock Valley is among three in Lyon and Sioux counties being built by Gevo, a Colorado company that plans to capture methane from dairy cattle manure and process it into renewable natural gas to fuel low-emissions vehicles in California, according to the company’s website.
It began construction last year and plans to have the system operational early this year.
“We’re excited to get NW Iowa RNG online, right on schedule,” said Chris Ryan, the company’s president, in a news release less than two weeks ago.
“Our team here has done a terrific job, creating a facility that will become an example of how renewable energy can work for years to come, and we’re excited to bring our partnership with area farmers to the next stage.”
But when the company recently filled the Rock Valley digester with manure, it began to leak into the ground.
The leak was discovered early this past week when someone noticed contaminated water leaving an underground tile line, said Jacob Simonsen, an environmental specialist for the DNR.
“They don’t know what’s caused the leak,” he said.
“It’s kind of puzzling for them.”
The digester is a large, mostly subterranean container that captures biogas produced by microorganisms that feed on the manure.
That gas — estimated to be about 58 percent methane, 42 percent carbon dioxide and less than 1 percent hydrogen sulfide — is compressed and sent through a few miles of pipe to another facility that refines it and sends it to an existing, interstate natural gas pipeline, according to documents Gevo filed with the Iowa Utilities Board in 2020.
The Rock Valley digester is the smallest of the three but can hold one and a half million gallons of manure, said Heather Manuel, a spokeswoman for Gevo.
“We will be inspecting all the other digesters as we move forward — just extra precautions,” Manuel said.
“This will not delay any timelines at this point.”
Simonsen said this past week it was unclear how long the digester was leaking.
The watery manure seeped into the ground and into tiling that is meant to drain stormwater from the area.
The contaminated water flowed to a crop field and into Lizard Creek, which feeds the Rock River.
It’s unclear how much of the water reached the creek.
The effects of the contamination were not immediately clear, in part because sections of the creek were covered in ice that concealed what lay beneath, Simonsen said.
No fish kill was apparent.
And?
 
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This is how the big corporations are going green. They are buying the carbon credits from these dairy farmers instead of fixing their own pollution problems. These digesters are forecasted to be popping up all over highly concentrated livestock areas over the next few years. Welcome to going green.
 
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This is how the big corporations are going green. They are buying the carbon credits from these dairy farmers instead of fixing their own pollution problems. These digesters are forecasted to be popping up all over highly concentrated livestock areas over the next few years. Welcome to going green.
Whatcha gonna do about it?
 
This is how the big corporations are going green. They are buying the carbon credits from these dairy farmers instead of fixing their own pollution problems. These digesters are forecasted to be popping up all over highly concentrated livestock areas over the next few years. Welcome to going green.
This is my impression. When I lived in Madison, there was a digester near there that everyone had high hopes for, but it was fraught with all sorts of problems. By the time I left the area, the general consensus among the generally Lefty population was the thing was a boondoggle and it was environmental fools gold, albeit friendly to big ag, much like ethanol.
 
It seemed more like an attempt to discredit something trying to solve a problem.
I'm just getting ahead of the curve as usual...

Study: Corn-based ethanol may be worse for the climate than gasoline
It’s long been touted as a renewable fuel emitting 20% fewer greenhouse gases than gasoline
By Georgina Gustin,
Inside Climate News
Ethanol made from corn grown across millions of acres of American farmland has become the country’s premier renewable fuel, touted as a low-carbon alternative to traditional gasoline and a key component of the country’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
But a new study, published this past week, finds that corn-based ethanol actually may be worse for the climate than fossil-based gasoline, and has other environmental downsides.
“We thought and hoped it would be a climate
solution and reduce and replace our reliance on gasoline,” said Tyler Lark, a researcher with the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and lead author of the study.
“It turns out to be no better for the climate than the gasoline it aims to replace and comes with all kinds of other impacts.”
The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, looks specifically at the effect of the Renewable Fuel Standard, or RFS, which was first passed by Congress in 2005 and updated in 2007, as RFS2.
 
I'm just getting ahead of the curve as usual...

Study: Corn-based ethanol may be worse for the climate than gasoline
It’s long been touted as a renewable fuel emitting 20% fewer greenhouse gases than gasoline
By Georgina Gustin,
Inside Climate News
Ethanol made from corn grown across millions of acres of American farmland has become the country’s premier renewable fuel, touted as a low-carbon alternative to traditional gasoline and a key component of the country’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
But a new study, published this past week, finds that corn-based ethanol actually may be worse for the climate than fossil-based gasoline, and has other environmental downsides.
“We thought and hoped it would be a climate
solution and reduce and replace our reliance on gasoline,” said Tyler Lark, a researcher with the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and lead author of the study.
“It turns out to be no better for the climate than the gasoline it aims to replace and comes with all kinds of other impacts.”
The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, looks specifically at the effect of the Renewable Fuel Standard, or RFS, which was first passed by Congress in 2005 and updated in 2007, as RFS2.
It was pretty obvious from the get go that using precious crop land for non food production is a waste.
The better overall solution is to lessen the need for fuel… dramatically increase MPG or it’s equivalent.
 
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It was pretty obvious from the get go that using precious crop land for non food production is a waste.
The better overall solution is to lessen the need for fuel… dramatically increase MPG or it’s equivalent.
That was always my thought but now 40 or so years later everyone is surprised.
 
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Nothing. I think it's great for the farmer as they have no costs and get paid for shit. Everybody is just worried if the green money will run out but for now it's a cash cow.
Not surprised that this tactic pleases you.
Don’t talk about other folks in society who benefit with no skin in the game.
 
A new facility in northwest Iowa that was built to create environmentally friendly fuel from cow manure polluted a creek this past week when it leaked an estimated 376,000 gallons of manure water, according to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.
The manure digester near Rock Valley is among three in Lyon and Sioux counties being built by Gevo, a Colorado company that plans to capture methane from dairy cattle manure and process it into renewable natural gas to fuel low-emissions vehicles in California, according to the company’s website.
It began construction last year and plans to have the system operational early this year.
“We’re excited to get NW Iowa RNG online, right on schedule,” said Chris Ryan, the company’s president, in a news release less than two weeks ago.
“Our team here has done a terrific job, creating a facility that will become an example of how renewable energy can work for years to come, and we’re excited to bring our partnership with area farmers to the next stage.”
But when the company recently filled the Rock Valley digester with manure, it began to leak into the ground.
The leak was discovered early this past week when someone noticed contaminated water leaving an underground tile line, said Jacob Simonsen, an environmental specialist for the DNR.
“They don’t know what’s caused the leak,” he said.
“It’s kind of puzzling for them.”
The digester is a large, mostly subterranean container that captures biogas produced by microorganisms that feed on the manure.
That gas — estimated to be about 58 percent methane, 42 percent carbon dioxide and less than 1 percent hydrogen sulfide — is compressed and sent through a few miles of pipe to another facility that refines it and sends it to an existing, interstate natural gas pipeline, according to documents Gevo filed with the Iowa Utilities Board in 2020.
The Rock Valley digester is the smallest of the three but can hold one and a half million gallons of manure, said Heather Manuel, a spokeswoman for Gevo.
“We will be inspecting all the other digesters as we move forward — just extra precautions,” Manuel said.
“This will not delay any timelines at this point.”
Simonsen said this past week it was unclear how long the digester was leaking.
The watery manure seeped into the ground and into tiling that is meant to drain stormwater from the area.
The contaminated water flowed to a crop field and into Lizard Creek, which feeds the Rock River.
It’s unclear how much of the water reached the creek.
The effects of the contamination were not immediately clear, in part because sections of the creek were covered in ice that concealed what lay beneath, Simonsen said.
No fish kill was apparent.
 
I'm just getting ahead of the curve as usual...

Study: Corn-based ethanol may be worse for the climate than gasoline
It’s long been touted as a renewable fuel emitting 20% fewer greenhouse gases than gasoline
By Georgina Gustin,
Inside Climate News
Ethanol made from corn grown across millions of acres of American farmland has become the country’s premier renewable fuel, touted as a low-carbon alternative to traditional gasoline and a key component of the country’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
But a new study, published this past week, finds that corn-based ethanol actually may be worse for the climate than fossil-based gasoline, and has other environmental downsides.
“We thought and hoped it would be a climate
solution and reduce and replace our reliance on gasoline,” said Tyler Lark, a researcher with the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and lead author of the study.
“It turns out to be no better for the climate than the gasoline it aims to replace and comes with all kinds of other impacts.”
The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, looks specifically at the effect of the Renewable Fuel Standard, or RFS, which was first passed by Congress in 2005 and updated in 2007, as RFS2.
That may be a “new study”, but it has been known for many years that ethanol is a bad mistake. Less efficient as a fuel and a waste of good crop land.
Surely farmers can understand that ethanol fuel is the wrong path to take.
 
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