Cow manure produced in the rural area south of Hanford could be worth its weight in renewable energy.

Using anaerobic digesting machines, a Delaware-based company wants to turn dairy waste into methane-rich biogas, a renewable substitute for natural gas, and then sell it to a utility company.

Microgy, a subsidiary of Environmental Power Corp., eyes a location near Kansas Avenue and Highway 43 to build its manure digestion operation. The facility will use manure from three surrounding dairies in the area as well as three others in Fresno and Merced counties.

"Kings County represents a significant opportunity for us because there's a vibrant, successful dairy industry in the county," said Jeff Dasovich, senior vice president and regional manager of Microgy.

On Tuesday, the firm received a big boost as the Kings County Board of Supervisors approved the issuance of tax-exempt bonds worth up to $55 million through a statewide authority for the project.

Officials say the county won't be liable for the costs of the revenue bonds.

The company operates four other digesters in the United States, three in Wisconsin and one in Texas.

The Kings County facility would process 13,000-cows' worth of manure. The company says the plant would produce enough biogas to meet the energy needs of 60,000 homes.

A dairy cow produces about 30 pounds of liquid and 65 pounds of solid waste daily. Dairy farms flush manure out of free stalls into lagoons, where waste is allowed to naturally decompose.

Microgy's plan is to come in between the free stalls and the lagoons and collect and treat the manure with bacteria inside an oxygen-free tank to capture the methane-rich gas through this process, which the company says was developed in Europe.

The facility will be hooked onto an existing gas pipeline. The company has a 10-year biogas purchase agreement with PG&E. The solids and liquids that come out of the process will be returned to the contracted dairy farms.

Company officials tout the project's potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions -- a sensitive issue in the region with the poorest air quality in the country -- as well as to help the state meet its renewable energy goal.

In a typical open-air dairy lagoon, methane and other air pollutants like ammonia and volatile organic compounds are released into the air, contributing to smog and global warming. Dairy manure also poses a risk to ground water, as salts and nitrates can seep into the water table or be washed into rivers by heavy rain.

The project received praise from a few supervisors.

"It's important for the future and the sustainability of the dairy industry," said Supervisor Tony Oliveira, who is a dairyman himself. "So I'm a big supporter of it."

Supervisor Tony Barba, who sits on the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District board, called the project a "real winner" for Kings County.

"This is something that puts us ahead," Barba said.

"This is a cost we have to bear so future residents are going to be able to breathe," Barba said about the bond issuance.

But Supervisor Joe Neves, a skeptic of the technology, called Microgy's project an untested leap forward.

"I don't believe in the technology," said Neves, who cast the sole no vote on the bond issue Tuesday.

In today's dairies, the cows are well-tuned machines that are fed and grown to produce a high output of milk. Unlike human waste, cow manure is unfit for bacterial cultivation because the cow waste -- after food is so efficiently digested -- doesn't hold much byproducts, Neves said.

"Today's cows are so efficient, not much energy is left in the manure to digest," he said. "The rules of biology aren't in favor of this technology working successfully. The more efficient we made the cows, the more milk they produce. But the gas production spirals down."

Neves says the technology might work better if the cow manure is blended with human waste or manufacturing wastewater.

Neves says Joe Gallo Farms in Merced, for example, makes its large methane digester system viable by mixing creamery waste streams with the manure, making it easier for bacteria to grow.

"If you want to put money into this, you ought to do it with a wastewater treatment plant," Neves said.

The project is still in the permitting process. Approval from the Kings County Planning Agency is in. The environmental and air permits are currently out for public comments. A water permit's up for approval on March 13, Dasovich said.

If everything goes well, the methane digester should begin operating by early 2009, Dasovich said.

The reporter can be reached at 583-2429.

(Feb. 18, 2008)