Environmental advocates oppose new permit for Fremont digester

Spring 2020 run-off from fields where the digester's wastewater was being spread. Thousands of gallons ran off the field and formed a river flowing off to neighboring property, into culverts, and on into the watershed | FLOW photo

Members of the advocacy organization For Love of Water (FLOW) are calling on the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) to deny permitting for the Fremont Regional Digester outside Newaygo in West Michigan, citing water quality concerns.

FLOW, alongside the Michigan Farmers Union, Michigan Lakes and Streams Association, Michiganders for a Just Farming System, Progress Michigan, Socially Responsible Agriculture Project, U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Detroit) and Fremont-area farmer Kathleen Morrison have also called on EGLE to hold a public hearing in or near Fremont to discuss measures needed to operate the digester safely.

In December, the company operating the digester announced it would close its doors unless it could reach an agreement with EGLE regarding the use of its digestate as liquid fertilizer.

Digesters like the one in Fremont break down organic waste — including materials like sewage sludge, food waste and wastewater — to produce biogas, which can be used for energy production like natural gas, and digestate, which can be applied to farmland as a fertilizer, among other uses.

Lawmakers call on EGLE to address permitting conflict with West Michigan digester

Generate Upcycle took over the facility in 2017, and received notice in December 2021 that EGLE’s Water Resources Division would be taking over regulation of the facility’s digestate, which was previously regulated by the Solid Waste Division.

While the company was previously permitted to apply its liquid digestate as fertilizer, EGLE later determined that the facility’s digestate did not meet the standards for land application as an agriculturally beneficial solid waste.

Under the new authority, the digester must now operate under a groundwater discharge permit, rather than the agricultural use authorization that previously dictated how the resulting digestate could be used.

Generate Upcycle President Bill Caesar called the new requirements “operationally impossible.”

The facility stopped accepting food waste at the end of December, Caesar said in a previous statement, after failing to come to an agreement with EGLE over the use of its digestate as fertilizer.

On Jan. 27, Generate Fremont Digester LLC submitted its application for a groundwater discharge permit, with public comments on the permit running from July 3 through Aug. 2. according to a letter from Alissa Yanochko, a project coordinator on EGLE’s groundwater permits staff.

On Aug. 2, the FLOW Coalition submitted its comments and requested a public hearing on the permit in or near Fremont and that EGLE coordinate with the Office of the Environmental Justice Public Advocate on a comprehensive evaluation of measures needed to operate the digester safely.

In its comments ,the coalition argued the permit as written “has the potential to create an imminent and substantial endangerment to the health and well-being of the watershed, local soil ecology, the surrounding community, and all those dependent upon land, water, and air quality in the area.”

The Advance contacted Generate Upcycle, but the company did not respond to an interview request or a request for comment.

Both the website and the email address associated with the Fremont Regional Digester are no longer active, although the facility’s Facebook page is still live.

The coalition also noted previous environmental violations at the facility including a 2014 Clean Air Act Violation under the digester’s previous operator, and Generate’s violation of its agricultural use authorization, Michigan’s solid waste code and the waste code’s administrative rules. Residents also contacted EGLE with complaints about odor, digestate spills and runoff and other disturbances tied to the facility, with EGLE taking enforcement action in 2019.

The department issued a $13,860 fine as well as a consent order requiring the company to revise its operations plan, provide certification of repairs to prevent leaking from one of the digestate lagoons, create a hydrogeologic monitoring plan and odor control plan, fully comply with with agricultural use authorization and submit quarterly reports to EGLE.

In looking at the latest permit, the coalition pointed to further concerns, saying the soil and groundwater monitoring standards and parameters were insufficient.

It criticized Generate Upcycle’s explanation of its waste characterization, which it describes as “food waste, food waste waters, food byproducts and food sludges from food manufacturers and consumer packaged food and beverages that have been depackaged,” with the coalition arguing the description is incomplete.

The coalition pointed to a 2018 air quality inspection report where the inspector reported the facility receives dairy manure, with the coalition noting that waste from concentrated animal feeding operations like dairy farms can include chemical contaminants alongside high concentrations of E. coli bacteria, thermo-tolerant and antibiotic resistant bacteria, and other human and animal health threats.

The facility’s digestate is also more likely to infiltrate surface and groundwater, as it is not dewatered, the coalition said.

The coalition also questioned EGLE’s decision to waive hydrogeological report requirements “due to the infrequent use of each land application location,” arguing that the “hundreds of different application sites” carrying different risks and potential sources of contamination should require an “exceptionally extensive” hydrogeological report.

Additionally, the coalition argues the draft permit does not adequately protect natural resources under the Public Trust Doctrine, the Michigan Constitution, and the Michigan Environmental Protection Act, and fails to evaluate feasible and prudent alternatives, as required by the same act.

“EGLE has a non-discretionary legal duty to address all potential emissions and discharges to land, air, and water in its permitting actions. The need to regulate the facility as a complex wastewater treatment plant and air emissions source is not sufficiently addressed by the current draft permit,” the coalition said in its comments.

Alongside its request for EGLE to hold at least one hybrid in-person/virtual public hearing in Fremont, the coalition also requested the office coordinate with the Office of the Environmental Justice Public Advocate to more comprehensively evaluate the measures needed to safely operate the digester.

According to EGLE spokesperson Scott Dean, no date has been set for a public hearing.

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