New Chester Dairy, LLC. CAFO Permit

On July 31, 2018, the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) reissued a Wisconsin Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (WPDES) permit to New Chester Dairy, LLC, a Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) in Adams County. The reissued WPDES permit and the DNR’s Notice of Final Determination on its decision to reissue a WPDES permit to New Chester Dairy are included in the document table below. The Notice of Final Determination includes a summary of all comments received during the public comment period and the DNR’s response. It also includes a list of all changes made from the public noticed version of the permit to the reissued permit. WPDES permits are water quality protection permits designed to ensure proper storage and handling of manure and process wastewater from larger-scale livestock operations. The WPDES permit program does not address odor, noise, traffic or other issues not related to water quality.

Background

New Chester Dairy, LLC is a dairy CAFO, located in Adams County, currently permitted by the DNR under the WPDES permit program. The operation currently houses 13,080 animal units and does not plan to expand during the 5-year permit term. New Chester Dairy has five liquid waste storage ponds (WSP) and a stacking pad that are utilized for manure and process wastewater storage. Manure generation and spreading records indicate the herd will annually generate approximately 110,864,079 gallons of manure and process wastewater and 17,105 tons of solid manure. New Chester Dairy currently has 49,043 acres (3,557.8 owned and 45,485.2 controlled through contracts, rental agreements or leases, or under manure agreements). The DNR has reviewed and approved the operation’s updated nutrient management plan.

Proposed project description — modification

New Chester Dairy, LLC requested a modification to its WPDES permit to accommodate the construction and use of anaerobic digesters at the Farm. The DNR is processing this request.

New Chester Dairy has entered into an agreement with DTE Biomass Energy, LLC to construct an anaerobic digestion facility onsite at New Chester Dairy (Farm) to produce Renewable Natural Gas (RNG) from dairy manure generated on the Farm. The RNG facility will be operated by New Chester Renewable Energy, LLC through an agreement with New Chester Dairy, LLC.

New Chester Renewable Energy, LLC will digest dairy manure produced at the Farm and create raw biogas. The raw biogas will be purified onsite into RNG, compressed into compressed natural gas (CNG) and transported to a natural gas pipeline injection site where it will be injected into a natural gas pipeline. One to two trucks per day of CNG will be transported from New Chester to the gas injection site in Newton, Wisconsin. Following anaerobic digestion, liquid effluent will be transferred back to the existing manure separation facility onsite for further solids removal. The solids will be stored on the existing manure stacking pad at the Farm and the liquid will be transferred into one of the existing concrete lined lagoons until land application is completed in accordance with the Farm’s nutrient management plan.

Proposed changes to the permit

The following permit sections are proposed for modification:

• Sample point 002 was edited to add digester solids from the four new anaerobic digesters so that they are handled and sampled in the same way as settled solids from manure storage.
• Sample points 010 and 011 were added to the permit to include any liquid manure from the four new anaerobic digesters which would be removed for land application. This ensures the liquid manure is handled and sampled in the same way as other landspread manure sources. This unlikely event could occur during a clean out of the tanks.
• Section 4.2.6 “Requirements for Digesters for Biogas Production” was added to the proposed permit. This section is a standard requirement for permittees that have digesters.
• Section 5 “Summary of Reports Due” was updated with new standard language about how and where submittals are required to be sent to the department.

WPDES permit application and related documents