How, now, would more cow power help CA’s Central Valley? It absolutely would not

Despite what the dairy industry will tell you, cow power isn’t clean. A recent article in The Modesto Bee made claims about methane that need to be debunked.

The Central Valley is home to the largest concentration of dairies in California. The region suffers from widespread groundwater contamination, poor air quality, heavy truck traffic and high rates of asthma. Large dairies are major contributors to these problems, especially impacting low-income families and communities of color.

Massive dairy operations cause pollution, with local and basin-wide impacts. In the San Joaquin Valley, dairies are the largest source of ammonia, which is both a toxic air contaminant and precursor to fine-particle pollution, and a significant source of smog-forming volatile organic compounds. A recent report on water impacts from Valley dairies documents elevated nitrogen concentrations beneath all dairies that were studied, and notes significant contamination of both deep and shallow groundwater.

Despite harmful impacts, the gas industry promises that these same dairies are an appropriate source for energy. Industry groups claim that dairy digesters, which capture methane from manure lagoons, can be used for fuel. Meanwhile, ratepayer and taxpayer-supported subsidies — including California’s Public Utilities Commission and Department of Food & Agriculture investments — double down on the problems that have arisen from dairy consolidation.

Dairy digesters do not address air and water degradation resulting from dairy practices, beyond manure lagoons. Silage, over-application of manure on cropland, pre- and post-digester manure management and dust all contribute to local pollution. About 96% of nitrate contamination is caused by nitrogen applied to cropland, 33% of which is from animal manure. And nearby communities must endure noxious odors.

While Calgren Dairy Fuels and Southern California Gas Co. expand biogas operations, it’s critical to counter the myth about digesters. They claim huge greenhouse gas benefits while failing to acknowledge impact on water and air quality or reliance on an unsustainable model of animal agriculture.

Calgren, SoCalGas and others in the dairy industry claim that if not captured, methane from dairies would otherwise enter the atmosphere. What they don’t say is that biogas releases carbon dioxide and air pollutants when burned as fuel or flared.

They don’t mention that dairy digesters do nothing to address enteric emissions — cows releasing gas — which account for about half of dairy methane. They don’t acknowledge that dairy methane leaks from gas infrastructure. The dangerous assumption that the only way to raise dairy cattle is in heavily consolidated factory farms prevents a shift toward avoiding large methane production in the first place.

Expanding methane capture for biogas means we will need even larger dairies that put the health of often low-income communities of color at greater risk. Digesters likely encourage increased herd sizes and incentivize greater concentration of dairies around energy infrastructure, to generate greater revenue from energy production.

Concentrating cows and their waste only intensifies pollution. Communities that face serious inequities, which have been fighting for decades for the right to clean water and clean air, are left to bear the burden.

Although some promote biogas as clean energy and so-called renewable natural gas, biogas is neither clean nor renewable. Dairy digesters and the attempt to paint them as green undercuts genuine attempts to develop the state’s clean energy infrastructure.

California must achieve its climate goals in a just and equitable way. Subsidizing the status quo model of dairy production in the Valley, rather than investing in holistic, environmentally and economically sustainable livestock management, will not get us there. Doubling down on existing gas infrastructure, rather than transitioning to zero-emission energy, will not get us there.

While the state continues to finance dairy digesters, we work to shine a light on these misguided investments. We must address local impacts and shift farmers away from dependence on high herd densities, while lifting up small-scale farmers and farmers of color using agroecological practices.

This story was originally published March 1, 2020 at 5:00 AM.