Walker administration project to battle manure pollution has been hit by delays

An initiative by former Gov. Scott Walker’s administration to use millions of dollars in state funds to subsidize a project that would generate natural gas from manure is struggling with delays and public opposition.

The project in Brown County, which has so far failed to win local approval, highlights unease over the growing tide of animal waste in some regions of the state and how best to manage manure as dairy farms grow larger....

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Ken Notes: This is an interesting project, but I would rather see the energy companies work with the DNR and farmers directly to develop smaller scale projects. Regarding the odor, I live 4 miles from a small CAFO and the odor from spreading has to be worse than the digestors. From a safety perspective we know that ground water is and will be affected without digestion. Finally we do not need to reinvent the wheel here, There are nearly 9,000 biogas – or anaerobic digestion – plants in Germany mostly on dairy farms.