ISSUE BRIEF JULY 2019

Biogas From Factory Farm Waste

Has No Place in a Clean Energy Future
As the threats of global climate change and fossil fuel dependence are increasingly being
felt worldwide, countries are turning to biogas as a part of a transition to renewable en-
ergy. Biogas is being boasted as a “renewable” energy solution, designed to help mitigate
climate change. The process of anaerobic digestion converts organic material into biogas,
which can be used to produce electricity on-site, for heating, or as vehicle fuel.1

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the many environmental and health threats posed by a major
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Biogas Is Dirty Energy
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foodandwaterwatch.org
Fight like you live here.
 Biogas From Factory Farm Waste Has No Place in a Clean Energy Future

What Is Biogas?
Biogas is a mixture of gases that are produced after plant and animal
material are broken down by microorganisms in a process called anaerobic
digestion.2 Anaerobic digestion — which occurs in a closed, oxygen-free
space called a digester — takes substances like manure from factory farms,
sewage sludge or food waste and “eats” the material, leaving mostly meth-
ane and carbon dioxide, among other gases. The material left over is called
digestate.3
Biogas can be converted into biomethane through the removal of hydro-
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or distributed through pipelines to homes and businesses.
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methane production is actually similar to that of fossil fuel
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Releases of harmful contaminants are also associated
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The high costs of factory farm manure
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is wasted capital that should instead be invested in zero-
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Biogas in the United States
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Rural communities across the United States are
being targeted for new digesters. In late 2018,
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“manure-to-energy” projects at 90 percent of the fa-
cilities raising its pigs — in Missouri, Utah and North
Carolina — with the goal of achieving greenhouse
gas emission reductions.37 This $250 million joint
venture with Dominion Energy will convert existing
anaerobic lagoons into covered digesters, which will
capture biogas that will then be transported to pro-
cessing facilities around the country to be turned
into natural gas.38
The partnership claims “to promote cleaner energy,
sustainable family farms, and a brighter future for
rural communities.”39 But the creation of even more
dirty natural gas through anaerobic digestion at large
factory farms will do nothing for independent family-
scale farms because digesters require such large
quantities of manure. This amount of manure can
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$550 million after testifying about terrible odors, ad-
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Environmental injustices stemming from digesters
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verse health impacts and property destruction. After
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ties.41 But this plan does nothing to solve the prob-
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also employ dirty biogas infrastructure under the
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 Biogas From Factory Farm Waste Has No Place in a Clean Energy Future
The Case of California’s Central Valley
Before 2002 in the Central Valley of California, there
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digesters.42%\ȴYHGDLU\IDFWRU\IDUPVKDGEHHQ
awarded millions of dollars in grants to build new
biogas digesters that would be located in disadvan-
taged communities in the Central Valley. The California
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digesters will mitigate global warming by cutting meth-
ane emissions through the production of renewable
energy.43
But the Central Valley is a region already plagued by
pollution and terrible environmental conditions, and
digesters may only make things worse. The increased
presence of factory farms to promote biogas, the use
ately located in communities of color where bacteria from
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of diesel trucks to cart manure to and from digesters,
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and the invasive construction of pipelines to move bio-
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gas across the country pose major risks to an already
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polluted Central Valley.
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The valley is surrounded by mountains that trap air
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pollutants, resulting in poor air quality. Already, the
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concentrations of ozone and particulate matter often
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exceed the state and federal standards.44 Groundwater
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has also been degraded partly because of land use and
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agriculture practices.45
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 Biogas From Factory Farm Waste Has No Place in a Clean Energy Future

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The Urgent Need to Shift to Renewables
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We must reject biogas as renewable energy
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