A1.1 Manure management
Provide education and incentives (grants, loans, technical assistance) to support manure management to reduce methane and nitrous oxide emissions, such as covered manure storage facilities, manure application practices.
Washington currently requires any permitted concentrated animal feeding operation (dairy or non-dairy) to have an approved Manure Pollution Prevention Plan that meets Ecology’s requirements. (Permits are required for any operation that confines livestock in pens or barns for 45 days or more during the year, and discharges to surface or groundwater.) The nutrient management requirements for any Class A milk producer also include items about manure management.
The Department of Agriculture issued a report in 2011 on the details of the six dairy digesters that were operating in the State at that point. No new dairy digesters have been added in the state since 2012. The building energy report I did for TCAT a few years ago has some analysis of potential power from the digestion of the manure in the County.
The Department of Commerce runs a Dairy Digester Enhancement program awarding grants to “enhance the viability of dairy digester projects, including bioenergy, improved energy efficiency, and advanced nutrient recovery systems that produce value-added biofertilizers, reduce trucking of lagoon water, and improve soil health and air and water quality.” It got $970,000 in the 2019-2021 budget.