Winneshiek supervisors decline to block manure digester

The leaders of Winneshiek County agreed on Monday to rezone a rural parcel of land for a facility that will capture methane from decaying manure.

The county’s supervisors, in a 3-2 vote, defied numerous residents who worry about the environmental implications of operating the anaerobic digester, which will hold about 5 million gallons of manure from two dairy farms and is expected to result in one of those farms nearly doubling its herd.

The county’s planning and zoning commission did not recommend rezoning the property out of evironmental concerns.

“This is a group of farmers that are trying to improve their processes,” said Supervisor Steve Kelsay, who voted to rezone. He added: “Our community and our county is dependent on agriculture.”

At issue is a proposed digester that would be built and operated by Novilla RNG and fueled by manure of the nearby Full Bohr and KG4 Farms dairies near Ridgeway, about 15 miles west of Decorah. A construction permit application that Full Bohr recently submitted to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources says the dairy will transport its manure by truck about half a mile to the digester, where microbes will consume it and emit gases, including methane.

Often, farm operations will use digesters to produce heat and electricity for their operations, but Novilla plans to process the gas and plumb it into an existing interstate natural gas pipeline in the area. That required the company to seek a zoning change for a five-acre parcel that will host the equipment, from agricultural to industrial.

The requirement gave the county supervisors an uncommon level of control over whether the digester would be built. Residents and conservationists who worry about manure spills from the facility asked the supervisors to use their authority over zoning changes to block it. The area has porous topography that is more susceptible to groundwater contamination.

But Supervisor Chairperson Dan Langreck, who voted to rezone, sought to limit comments about the environmental threats during a two-hour public hearing, which occasionally devolved into fits of shouting.

“I’m in charge of this meeting,” Langreck raised his voice. “I will let you speak as long as what you’re talking about has to do with the zoning request.”

He had interrupted Chris Jones, president of the Driftless Water Defenders, a relatively new group that advocates for clean water in northeast Iowa.

“For the supervisors to just wash their hands of the consequences … is sort of cowardly, right?” Jones had said.

Jones argued that new digesters invariably lead to more cattle at the operations that supply the manure. DNR records indicate Full Bohr gained permission from the department last year to increase its capacity by about 900 dairy cattle but has not started construction. The construction permit for the digester indicates the dairy plans to build two new confinement barns in tandem with the digester.

Mark Hill, co-chief executive of Novilla, said the project would spare the atmosphere from the methane from manure that is stored outside. The company would profit from sales of its biogas and from federal tax credits that encourage the production of low-emissions fuels.

“I don't want this to turn into, ‘We're here to create more manure and more gas and more pollution,’” Hill said. “It's the exact opposite. … We are reducing greenhouse gases.”

Langreck, Kelsay and Supervisor Mark Vick voted to rezone. They said the project is important to the local economy, will increase property tax revenues and is ideally located along the existing natural gas pipeline. They also decided to forgo further votes on the issue, making their decision final on Monday.

The measure was opposed by Supervisors Mark Faldet and Shirley Vermace.

Comments: jared.strong@thegazette.com