House clears McCoy’s bill boosting
cleaner environment and smarter energy

Snohomish County lawmaker wins support for anti-manure measure

March 5, 2009

OLYMPIA – A Snohomish County lawmaker scored victories both for the environment and for the economy today (Thursday, March 5, 2009) when the House of Representatives endorsed his bill streamlining the permit process for anaerobic digesters.

State Rep. John McCoy guided the successful legislation (House Bill 1135) through the House and sent it over to the Senate.

McCoy, D-Tulalip, said his bill exempts these anaerobic digesters from solid-waste-permit requirements, “just as long as the digesters live up to some fair and reasonable conditions.”

Anaerobic digesters are specially designed, insulated tanks used to carry out the anaerobic-digestion process under a controlled atmosphere, he said. The goal is to produce biogas in a fairly short period of time. The process of anaerobic digestion occurs naturally in the absence of air when micro-organisms stabilize waste-organic matter and release biogas.

Further, anaerobic digestion is a series of processes in which microorganisms break down biodegradable material, McCoy explained. The process is particularly suited to wet organic material, and it is commonly used for effluent and sewage treatment.

The anaerobic-digester technology is relatively simple to install, he said and added that “it’s great for the environment and it’s a terrific source of alternative energy.”
“But our state’s current permitting process involves five different permits, and it’s simply too complicated and cumbersome,” he pointed out.

“We’ve got to keep permitting to a reasonable minimum if we honestly expect more folks to use these digesters – and therefore make the technology more practical and widespread. We need to keep a level playing field in terms of requirements for folks who are involved in this sort of solid-waste disposal.”

The measure requires the state Department of Ecology, the state Department of Agriculture, and the state Department of Health to work together in developing and issuing guidelines for anaerobic co-digestion of livestock manure and organic waste-derived material.

Most times, a co-digestion or co-fermentation plant is one of these agricultural anaerobic digesters receiving two or more input materials for simultaneous digestion. In addition to the obvious help they provide for the environment, an anaerobic-digestion facility produces biogas, McCoy said. The methane in biogas can then be burned to produce heat and electricity.

Excess electricity can then be sold to suppliers or added to the local grid.
To be eligible for an exemption from solid-waste-permit requirements, a digester would need to meet conditions, including:

* The digester must process at least 50-percent livestock manure by volume, and it must process no more than 30-percent imported organic waste-derived material by volume.

* Any imported organic waste-derived material must be preconsumer in nature – and if likely to contain animal byproducts, it must be source-separated at a facility licensed to process food by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the state Department of Agriculture, or some other applicable regulatory agency.

* Any imported bovine waste-processing must be from animals approved by USDA inspectors and it cannot contain any risk material. (Sheep carcasses or sheep-processing waste cannot be fed into the digester.)

* Imported, organic waste-derived material must be fed into the digester within 36 hours of receipt, and digester owners or operators must control nuisance odors and manage operations to minimize the attraction of flies, rodents, and other pests.

McCoy said that digesters that aren’t operated according to these and other conditions could be subject to solid-waste-permitting requirements, and violators of the conditions could also face fines of $1,000 a day.