Brooks, Vanguard host public meeting
By James Card
Brooks Farms and Vanguard Renewables hosted a community conversation about a planned co-digester on Thursday, Feb. 22, at Par 4 Resort.
After opening remarks by the hosts, an extensive question-and-answer session followed. Approximately 125 people attended.
Brooks Farm submitted an application to amend the comprehensive plan, and to recommend that the county amend the zoning map from an agricultural enterprise to rural industrial development. The amendment would affect 7.8 acres of land.
A public hearing has been scheduled for 5 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 28, at the Waupaca High School.
The digester planned for the Brooks Farm is a co-digester, meaning the machine allows for simultaneous anaerobic digestion of multiple organic wastes that transforms it into biogas. In this case, this would be manure from the Brooks Farm and that would be supplemented with trucked-in food waste.
Digester skeptics
This has raised numerous concerns by local residents about a number of issues: water and air quality, road traffic, potential pollution, property values and other concerns.
A Facebook group named “Citizens Protecting Rural Waupaca County” is a discussion forum for these topics. The group has 698 members.
On Feb. 6, the website www.nodigester.com was launched anonymously. It includes information about the town of Lind, how to take political action, groundwater and air quality issues and ethical concerns. There is no contact page or information about who administers the website except for a link to the Facebook page of “Citizens Protecting Rural Waupaca County.”
There is also a gofundme.com page dedicated to to assist with expenses related to “the opposition of the Vanguard/Black Rock Anaerobic Co-Digester Proposal in the town of Lind.” So far the page has raised $4,180. The organizer is listed as an “Annonymous [sic] Resident” from Waupaca. There is no explanation of how the funds will be used.
On the website www.change.org, an online petition has garnered 261 digital signatures. The creator of the petition is by an “Anonymous Resident.” However, in the Reasons for Signing section, multiple residents expressed their views without the cover of anonymity.
“I value my clean well water and our artesian well in the town of Lind! We don’t need any more pollution,” wrote Katie Jorgenson.
“I live less than a mile away and am extremely concerned about the odor, discharge into the creek and the ground water which feeds into our well,” wrote George Schneider.
Public forum
It was in this contentious milieu that Brooks Farms decided to hold a community conversation. The crowd was mixed with supporters, skeptics and those unsure about it. Members of the discussion panel included Kevin Chase, the co-founder and chief development officer of Vanguard Renewables; Ron Brooks, fifth-generation farmer of Brooks Farms and a Waupaca school board member; Libby McDonald, a development manager with Vanguard; Donal Boozer, senior operations manager at Vanguard; and Anna Raschke, an engineer at Vanguard.
The Brooks/Vanguard team also brought in guests such as Peter Melnick, a farmer from Deerfield, Mass. who has a digester on his farm, some researchers who specialize in packaging and biogas. Brian Haase, a conservationist for Waupaca County, and Casey Beyersdorf, the Waupaca County Highway Commissioner.
The question-and-answer session was moderated by Tara Goodwin, an event creation and management consultant.
Water
Kevin Sorge, the superintendent of the wastewater treatment plant in Oshkosh. asked, “What is the expected flow out of the digester daily?” he asked.
“The expected output is 41,000 gallons. Other material that comes in is going to be solid. That solid is going to be separated,” said McDonald.
“Obviously the solids you are going to bring in are going to generate a lot of their own liquid, so the liquid that comes out of that – which you are going to use for irrigation which is awesome – how is that going to be treated and tested for phosphorus and ammonia?” asked Sorge. He also asked about how it would be tested before applying it to the soil.
McDonald said the liquid would be passed through an ultra-filtration system that would separate the water and nutrients. She then passed the rest of the question to Brooks.
“We will be constantly testing everything that is in that lagoon. It will be tested before it goes out to the field. We have a 529 Nutrient management Plan. Our team will be constantly testing that—just like we test our manure now. Every load of manure gets tested. Every day we document it. It won’t be any different with the digester,” Brooks said.
Sorge asked if an anammox system would be put in to deal with the high ammonia or would a biological treatment be used to break down the nitrates before it goes into the water supply.
Brooks said they had not got that far yet. “That’s the end goal. The Holy Grail on this is what the De Jong family is doing in Texas and Indiana where they are taking the nutrients— – it’s about 2 to 1, phosphorus to nitrogen, and they are separating them and making stable nitrogen and phosphorous products. And then we can apply those as individual nutrients,” said Brooks.
“I’ve operated anaerobic digesters for 20 years so I don’t have any concerns with that. I understand this side because we’ve got the same concerns but I also understand the process. As far as the toxicity, it’s just like a stomach, you can’t put anything in it that’s going to make it sick because they don’t make Tums as big enough for this,” said Sorge as he turned from the panel and looked back at the audience.
Addressing the panel, he said, “From what I’m able to see, you guys are 85 or 90 percent there from a process standpoint with the water that comes out that you would reuse or irrigate with, if you put a secondary treatment process or a biological something to take the nutrients out, then essentially its drinking water.”
Brooks agreed and said that was the next step in their process and reiterated that was their Holy Grail, the place where they aimed to be.
Sorge acknowledged the different standards between industrial and agriculture wastewater permits. “But for this side of the room,” he said waving his list of questions to the audience, “if that clean water had to meet the criteria of every wastewater plant, I’d discharge 12 million gallons of wastewater to the Fox River a day and it’s cleaner than the water in the Fox River.”
However, he said he wanted more information and verification and McDonald said they were working on that through a permitting process with the DNR.
No wells will need to be drilled for this project. Manure is 90 percent water. Water is recycled on the farm four times in various functions and Brooks pointed out that it will never go down the drain, that the final use will be for irrigation and the water is returned to its natural cycle.
Discharge in wetlands
The system has 10 months of storage for irrigation water from the digester (there is no irrigating in winter).
“That permit is being applied for as a safety valve. We really don’t need it with ten months of storage. Think of that discharge as a back-up generator for your home. It’s something you hope you never have to use, and if you do, boy, you’re glad you have it. We have the option to turn on the reverse osmosis system and discharge absolutely pure water,” said Brooks.
Air
The most noticeable benefit of the digester to the nearby community is the smell of cow manure will not be in the air. It will all go into the digester.
Roads
What about the truck traffic and road depreciation? Who pays for that?
They produced a map of the route: Exit off of State Highway 10 to County Trunk A for 1.9 miles to Cross Road for 0.3 miles to the digester site. Depart the same way. Brooks Farms is located near the intersection of County A and Cross.
“County road A is getting upgraded to no weight limits. There will be no posted weight limits to County A after the upgrade. It will be slightly wider and I think we’re going to have a bike lane. Phase one is Highway 10 to Lind Center Road. Phase two is from Lind Center Road to Saxeville Road. Phase three is from Saxeville Road to the county line. About 700 feet of Cross Road is impacted by this project and that will be upgraded by Vanguard before the project starts to no weight limits,” said Brooks.
As for the outgoing traffic, the fertilizer will be most likely to be going to farms in the Central Sands area. He pointed out that there will be fewer trucks on the road after the digester is installed. No more trucks hauling LP, manure, sand and fertilizer.
20 years later
The contract is for 20 years. What happens after that? “After 20 years, another 20,” said Brooks clarifying that the second 20 years is broken up into separate five-year contracts. “Nobody in the ag industry has ever given me a 40-year commitment – that I can assure you.”
Who is liable?
A woman from Lind center asked who foots the bill if some kind of catastrophic accident were to happen?
Brooks pointed out that Vanguard never had a failure or catastrophic spill in its history.
“It’s very clear in our contract who is liable for the product when it comes to the digester and when ownership stops and starts,” said Brooks.
He said his agent from American Family Insurance was present and said he was comfortable that everything was covered completely on liability issues.
Outside manure?
Brooks was adamant that only manure produced on his farm would be used. Each farm has unique pathogens and exposing a herd to new pathogens is too great of a risk.
Microplastics?
There are concerns of microplastics entering the digester from the food waste. Dr. Keith Vorst of Iowa State University studies depacking systems – removing foodstuffs from packaging on an industrial scale.
“The majority of the microplastics are not coming from the packaging,” he said. That amount was miniscule.
He said microplastics were already in our food and shrimp and chicken nuggets had high levels. Everyone in the room had microplastics in their body, he said.
Vorst said microplastics mainly come from textiles, carpets, cosmetics and vehicles.